Upgrade Me Page #2

they normally change once a year but they have what they call a refresh, so pretty much every six months.

'The entire camera range changes twice a year too.

'It's mind-boggling how often everything is replaced.

'Within months your new gadget is so...

'yesterday?

'The living rooms of Britain have been transformed into home-entertainment emporiums,

'with a subwoofer behind every settee.'

And is there one particular product that's driving this whole thing, would you say?

I think, in the last five years, what's absolutely made people get excited about technology

is the TV, because there's been this fundamental shift

from the large box in the corner to something much slimmer and sleeker.

Also people don't seem to be bothered any more, that it's a bit like being sat in the pub,

you know, there's a sort of a 60 inch television there in the room.

Why do you think people buy technology?

Is it just need, or is it something else?

There is need, so, "The telly broke, I want a new one."

But for an awful lot of people it is about what their friends have got,

it's perhaps a status, and it's very much become part of our lifestyle.

So you see it in the media, you see it on television yourself,

and people start to think, "I must buy into that."

'The digital revolution has delivered uncountable gizmos and gadgets into the heart of our lives.

'And to some they bring status and credibility, implying as they do success, knowledge and power.'

When you're in this kind of Aladdin's cave of technology

it's almost impossible not be seduced into the idea of wanting something.

And I don't think it's just because everything is so shiny and sleek and slim-line and lightweight,

it's the fact that it's all working and it all looks so neat and tidy

and you think, "Actually my life could do with a bit of tidiness. If I get that thing there,

"it's going to sort everything out, bring everything into focus, put everything in its right place."

It does make you want to... does make you want to purchase.

Looking around, upgrade culture seems to cross all boundaries of class, age and ethnicity.

Perhaps it's been fuelled by the wealth that this country has enjoyed in recent years.

When I was young, money was much tighter and there was far less choice.

I'm going to meet some schoolchildren to discover just how much of this stuff today's kids have got,

at a school I know well from my visits as a poet.

My first gadget was a radio in the shape of an electric shaver.

How hilarious is that?!

It only played Radio One.

In fact, it only seemed to play Grandad by Clive Dunn!

OK, guys, if you could just pop your stuff... Just take it off the desk for the time being.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes