Revolutions have their victims - the latest ones are all of us

Revolution #1 - Agriculture - 10,000 years ago

Mankind plant seeds and settle down to wait for them to grow into food.

The hunter gatherer becomes the odd one out.

Revolution #2 - Mechanisation - 18th Century

The steam engine creates machines that can work longer, faster and harder than people.

The artisan becomes the odd one out.

Revolution #3 - Mass production - late 19th, early 20th Century

Electricity and mechanisation combine to invent the production line and minimise the need for people.

The craftsman becomes the odd one out.

Revolution #4 - Automation - later 20th Century

The microchip begets the computer.

The artist becomes the odd one out.

Revolution #5 - Digitisation - early 21st Century

The cloud permits access to everything and everyone, everywhere and all the time.

The individual becomes the odd one out.

Peaceful people with time to think - there are so few of us left.

All around me I see slaves to the cloud, desperately reaching for their smartphone to see what the latest ping was - as soon as the plane touches the runway, as soon as the meeting is over, whilst watching TV and movies, whilst eating, whilst talking to another person (FFS).

Gotta check my Facebook, Insta, WhatsApp, messages, email - rinse and repeat. That's on top of everything I already had to do.

Is it any wonder that we are weary?

Top tip for Friday - Notifications "off", Do Not Disturb "on", smartphone face down.

Go on - try it - just for one week. See if the world comes to an end (it won't - you and I aren't that important).

I reflect that it would do us all good to be dropped on to a desert island for a month and become hunter gatherers again. Just so that we can reconnect with our core values.

It worked for me.