A poignant reminder of how far technology has progressed during my lifetime. This is how computers were during my childhood. There was no Instagram or Facebook, and the only times I used the precursors to the internet before I went to university were at school.

Many people didn’t have computers at home, and those who did possessed devices only a fraction of the power and functionality of today’s smartphones. These early computers often needed to be programmed manually by their owner, and used “audio cassettes” to record their software.

Alternatively some software, often games, could be bought on cartridges that would be inserted into these devices before switching them on, after which the software would load automatically.

Video credit: ‘Database’ on Thames TV, 07/06/1984.