A birthday bash for a 1-year-old I attended at the weekend revealed a great example of how people are creating their own personalised communications systems using free web tools.

The parents had no fewer than 3 laptops set up, all running Skype video connections so relatives in various parts of the world could join in the singing of ‘happy birthday’ to the little boy.

The grandparents in Malaysia were propped up on the sofa while an uncle and aunt in Manchester were on the windowsill. The connections were clunky and eventually went down, but as an indicator of the changes such devices are already making to our daily lives I thought this was a great effort.

Knowing that the gathered toddlers will be looking back on the photos one day and laughing at the ‘prehistoric’ technology we employed is a reminder of the pace of change that continues to effect us all. My own 1-year-old had already spent the morning making faces at her 92-year-old great grandmother on Skype, who was of course the far more bemused of the two.

It looks like future generation’s ‘can’t work the video recorder’ moment is going to come earlier and earlier.