Christmas, the season for giving and teching

BRITS apparently own 11 pieces of technology on average.

Just think how much you have added to that total with the presents you have bought children this Christmas. And I remember when a new penny and a tangerine in your pillow case was part of the tradition of a good time.

Then I added up what I have: smart phone, tablet, e-reader, computer, remote controlled TV, remote controlled Dolby radio/CD player, remote controlled four candles on the mantelpiece in memory of the Two Ronnies (yes, really), remote controlled Buddha who’s tummy glows in the dark in memory of my Scouser mate Billy Shoes, also on the mantelpiece (yes, really again).

And if you count the stuff in the car there’s SatNav and reversing cameras and bluetooth phone.

That’s 11 and doesn’t include the cappuccino machine.

Good grief. I’m a technocrat at my age.

But wait, there’s more from the same research survey at money. co.uk that is slightly more comforting and shows that folk still yearn for a time when technology was not so invasive.

The top 10 pieces Brits miss the most include cassette tapes, Etcha-sketch, Video tapes, Gameboy, Tamagotchi, Sega Megadrive, early Nokia phones, Walkman, Hi-Fi systems and a Kodak camera.

Those aged 16 to 24 pick Tamagotchis (an egg-shaped digital pet that seem to have passed me by), 25-to-34year-olds yearn for the original Gameboy, and the piece of kit from the 1960s that has kept its appeal down the decades is Etch-a-Sketch, that cost

Research shows folk still yearn for a time when technology was

not so invasive