My name is Connie and I am an instructor in a language school in downtown Vancouver. After a year of teaching online, my bag has transformed into a minimalist edition. Instead of carrying a business laptop backpack, I now transport all my things in a tote bag. Teaching online means I no longer carry my laptop around. In my current bag, I found my car key, house keys, wallet, mobile phone and my children’s swimming progress report cards and the badges they earned after accomplishing all the criteria in the level they were in.

My car key provides me the means to transport my children to school everyday and my house keys grant me access to our very own space for living and working. My wallet houses my ID, membership cards and credit cards. I always try to have some cash in hand after getting into situations where some stores do not take credit cards and I had to awkwardly walk away.

I found my children’s swimming progress cards to be closely in line with concepts of text technologies. Through these cards, we communicated with the instructors. We are periodically updated with our children’s swimming progress. The report cards also document the skills that have been accomplished in the current level and the skills that will be developed in the following levels. What I find amazing is that while many things have been moved online especially over the past year and the fact that everything documented in these cards are available on the learning portal, we treasure the excitement of receiving the physical achievement badges. It’s akin to the joy of receiving a handwritten letter (versus an email).

I would say the one item that I might not be able to live without is my mobile phone. Thinking in terms of text technologies, my mobile phone has tremendously changed my landscape of communication and nurtured my reading habits. The speed of text communication enables me to connect with my family and friends halfway across the globe transcending time zone differences. Being able to send pictures and videos on a whim without being particularly cautious about the time differences kept us in the loop about each other’s lives. As for the love for reading, without the need to lug physical books around, I am now more motivated to read a few pages everyday- before and after work, while waiting for a table at a restaurant or waiting in line at a checkout counter. Reading on the mobile phone also allows me to pick up where I left off anytime anywhere.

My bag 25 years ago would have been one that is filled with pens, papers, candies, a story book and a must-have 555 Notebook. This little booklet is one that I grew up using as a planner to jot down school homework, due dates, a new friend’s phone number, holidays, party invitations or even random thoughts. Apparently, this booklet is used by many locals to record debts at the sundry shops. A quick google for the image of this booklet for this post has led me into discovering how this little booklet has inspired a local Malaysian company into developing an app that helps the locals keep tabs of their debts. This app also sends out reminders to a friend who owes you money. I should also say that I am in fact very surprised by the fact that this famous booklet which perhaps most Malaysians and Singaporeans grew up with its relevance is little known beyond these two countries. I would not have thought that something like this would be able to depict the place one would have inhabited.

I wonder, if I were to revisit this piece of writing a few decades from now, how much more changes will there be? Will the paper progress reports and physical achievement badges completely cease to exist? Perhaps we will go completely digital or maybe we will have everything entered into a chip that is planted into us? I am living in curiosity to find out.