My journey into the digital age
Summary
Information and communication technologies transformed Lee Hyon-soo’s work and private life over several decades. As an international banker, he moved from typewriters and telex in the 1970s to fax machines, PCs, the internet and smartphones. Generative AI, mainstream after ChatGPT’s introduction in late 2022, now helps him converse, answer questions and perform many tasks. He views these technologies as connected stages in the digital age.
Key Facts
- Fax machines replaced telex in the 1980s and enabled entire documents, including signatures, to be transmitted worldwide within minutes.
- Personal computers became common office equipment by the early 1990s, while the internet and World Wide Web transformed communication and research in the mid-to-late 1990s.
- Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, and smartphones became ubiquitous by the early 2010s.
- Lee Hyon-soo is a retired international banker based in Toronto, Canada, and the author of “Tales of A Modern-day Nomad,” among other books.
I have personally experienced, both at work and in my private life, extraordinary advances in information and communication technology over the past several decades. Encompassed in those decades was a broad range of "equipment" or machines, whose benefits I enjoyed along the way.
In the 1970s, the typewriter was my main tool as an international banker. I prepared all office documents in English on a typewriter. I had to retype the entire document whenever I made revisions. Correspondence with my bank’s offices in other countries was by telex. I typed the message and handed it to a telex operator, who converted it into a punched tape and fed it into the telex machine for transmission.
In the 1980s, fax machines replaced telex. Faxing was particularly useful because entire documents, including signatures, could be transmitted across the world in minutes.
During the 1980s, PCs also began arriving in the workplace, and by the early 1990s they became common office equipment. For me, the computer was a tool that dramatically improved efficiency.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, the internet and the World Wide Web brought another transformation. While the PC had initially been largely a machine for processing and storing information, the internet connected computers — and people. E-mail made communication quicker and more convenient, while research, too, became much easier.
As I worked successively in several countries, I witnessed the communication technologies rapidly breaking down the barriers of distance and time. The world seemed to be growing smaller.
The information revolution continued even after I retired. This time it was the smartphone. Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, and smartphones were ubiquitous by the early 2010s. A small device became a telephone, camera, map, newspaper, library, bank and store all in one.
And now I am witnessing yet another astonishing revolution: generative artificial intelligence (AI), which entered the mainstream after the introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022. Earlier information technologies mainly helped us process, store, find and transmit information. Generative AI goes a step further. It can converse with us, answer questions and help us in innumerable ways.
Looking back, I can see that these information and communication revolutions were closely connected. The PC gave me a new tool for processing information; the internet connected me with the world; the smartphone brought that world into the palm of my hand; and generative AI has become a companion and a helping hand whenever I need it.
In the twilight of my life, I am fortunate to be able to learn and use new technologies. Perhaps that is the greatest privilege of having lived through the dawn of the digital age.
Lee Hyon-soo is a retired international banker based in Toronto, Canada, and the author of “Tales of A Modern-day Nomad,” among other books.
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