Change must be one of the most common words that we hear in our everyday life.

We are constantly being told that we urgently need to change this and that we soon will need to change that. You either change or you will fall behind. There are no two ways about it.

Be it work methods, transportation and communication systems, technological equipment, medical treatments and equipment, forms of entertainment, education philosophy, housing methodologies.

In reality, the world has always experienced changes, some of which may have been more aggressive than others. Very often changes are inspired by events that leave a significant effect on one’s life, such as wars. Certain discoveries, like the wheel and electricity and, more recently, technology have had a lasting effect on our daily lives.

Technological change experienced during the last 40 years has left a tremendous impact on everyone’s lives. Everything happens quicker and faster and we are assured that, with the advent of digitalisation and AI, results will be obtained even quicker.

Listen to what various scholars from McKinsey & Company and Oxford University have said: 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 do not yet exist and 47% of current jobs will cease to exist by 2033.

How is that for change?

Look at how some aspects of our lives have changed in just the past 40 or 50 years.

When I started working in the field of accountancy everything was done manually. We updated ledgers and prepared accounts on specially designed, multi-columned sheets of paper. Every time we carried out an adjustment we had to erase and add all over again. With the help of computers what used to take hours to prepare is now carried out in minutes.

My late father was a medical doctor. Practically all the tests that he performed were carried out manually and with the assistance of medical acumen. He had no electronic equipment to assist him. The ultrasound, CT scan, MRI and PET scans were unheard of. 

We used to panic when he was needed urgently because we had no means of knowing his whereabouts or how to contact him. If only we had a mobile phone! 

I hear several people say that they were happier when they had much less- Noel Muscat

Nowadays, the unborn child is monitored regularly when still in the mother’s womb and crystal-clear photos of the baby are produced during every visit to the gynae. The child’s heartbeat can be heard within weeks of conception and the sex of the child can be determined in the very early stages of pregnancy. The fun of the surprise is gone – I never wanted to know the sex of the child until birth. 

In a popular school, a fur-lass was used to punish naughty students. One of my elder brothers was very familiar with this type of punishment. Nowadays this type of treatment is unheard of. 

During times when social benefits and assistance did not exist, we had families made up of eight children or more. Nowadays, we are experiencing a birth crisis.

The manufacturing industry has experienced tremendous change too. Labour-intensive factories have been replaced by machines and robots which have, in turn, increased efficiency and production.

Clothes were meant to last a lifetime, nowadays they hardly survive a season.

We used paper maps to reach a destination, nowadays maps and directions are easily accessed on one’s mobile phone.

And, every day, we hear of new discoveries that make life faster. Data is readily available at our fingertips and we can practically work and communicate from any destination.

Over the years, we have changed tremendously and, whether we like it or not, we have to keep on changing. Has this rapid change improved matters? Has it improved the quality of life? Are we happier? I hear several people say that they were happier when they had much less.

Undoubtedly, inventions and technology have improved the quality of life a great deal, particularly with regard to comfort and safety. Improvements in accessibility by air and sea transport have made travelling more popular. 

However, these rapid improvements have had their toll on the environment, particularly when considering deterioration of the ozone layer and of the ecology of the sea bed and the advent of climate change.

The damage caused seems to be irreversible and environmentalists are struggling to stop the rot.

The need to change fast has made everyone less patient and tolerant. The more that we have the less we appreciate.

What we certainly need to learn is to embrace change without letting it affect our quality of life. We need to accept the good that it brings about and discard all that is negative.

We need to keep on changing.

Noel Muscat

Noel Muscat is the mayor of Swieqi.