How times change - a reflection on digital over the Queen's 70-year reign

By Sarah Cronk

Like all of the nation and Commonwealth, we were saddened by the passing of Queen Elizabeth II after a long, dutiful, and steadfast 70-year reign.

Reflecting on her life, we found ourselves contemplating how the second Elizabethan age witnessed the rise of digital and so many changes in technology.

The Digital Revolution began around the time of the Queen’s coronation, with sweeping changes brought about by digital computing and communication technologies. These were initially adopted within universities, the military and businesses, but the invention of the internet and the rise of home computers in the latter part of the 20th century spread usage throughout the population.

The World Wide Web and home computing compounded the growth of digital, and then cloud computing and the smartphone really put communications in everyone’s pocket.

We’re talking about growth from 11% of the world’s population being internet users in 2002 to 59% in 2020 - that’s 4.5 billion people! We can only imagine how that has grown further in the past two years, due to the need for more remote communications in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Queen witnessed all of these changes and adapted accordingly. We all know how she continued to carry out official engagements via Zoom and interacted with the animated Paddington during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations - clearly embracing the technologies available today.

Image: Buckingham Palace

Thinking back to when the then Princess Elizabeth learned of her father’s death in Kenya and her accession to the throne in 1952, although George passed during the night, his daughter was not told until the following afternoon. It’s hard to imagine that situation today, given that much of the world was probably alerted to the news by a device notification within seconds of the official announcement. We had already had our suspicions about her health and death when the media cut from regular coverage shortly after midday. 

The “Hyde Park Corner” codeword had been triggered back in the UK and Winston Churchill had been informed of King George’s death during the night. It would be hard to imagine “Operation London Bridge” being held up by the keys to a safe holding a telegram codebook being unavailable, as was the case in 1952’s Kenya.

Fast forward to the so-called “news story of the century”, Princess Diana’s death 25 years ago. It was a viral moment in a pre-social media age, before we knew what ‘viral’ really meant. Nevertheless, imagery, film and technology had developed so far that this news reached us in the UK from France almost immediately, with phone calls and newsflashes sharing the dramatic events the next morning.

These days, we expect rolling news and updates as they happen - either from friends and family following the events, from news organisations with live footage, or from influencers, celebrities and those on the scene live-streaming every second via their social media accounts. No news stays quiet for long and it’s a race to break it - it doesn’t even have to wait to hit those traditional headlines the next morning. 

This spread of news communications is all supported by an incredible technological infrastructure that exists, mostly out of sight, in our towns, cities and under our seas. Not to mention the skills and innovation needed by developers who build the platforms which allow these sorts of communications to happen. 

What impact does this all have on us?

For starters, we’re often prepared for big news stories before they happen. Just the same week as the Queen’s death, we see the lectern waiting outside Downing Street ahead of a speech from new Prime Minister Liz Truss and Huw Edwards commentating on her journey throughout London, killing time while the rain stopped. Often, the contents of such speeches is shared with the media ahead of the words coming from the mouths of politicians, making the actual event almost irrelevant. The build-up warms us up first.

We’re also hugely driven by our thirst for the latest news. There is an addictive, competitive nature to rolling news and the speed with which information disseminates. ‘Oh, you know about Operation London Bridge, but what about Operation Unicorn?’ was surely a frequent dinnertime conversation that fated Thursday evening after the Queen’s passing.

Is this healthy?

Questionably so, but equally we are all undeniably more informed (or at least, have the ability to become so!) than we have ever been during the course of human history.

Nevertheless, we cannot deny the benefits this digital age had for us during the coronavirus pandemic, with much in terms of education, business and social activities going on relatively normally for those with access to digital technologies.

If the virus had hit the world 10-15 years sooner, we would have felt far more isolated and remote. But as it happened, for a significantly-sized portion of the population, we were able to hop onto video calls, Houseparty (remember that?) and switch our lives to ones that could be carried out virtually.

For the Queen, we have to hope that despite the remote nature of her last few years during the pandemic, she was able to enjoy a few quieter and less hectic moments whilst being supported by digital technologies. These would have given her the ability to maintain her duties and keep in touch with the Commonwealth and family and friends overseas.

Thank you, Ma’am, for serving us through this remarkable time of digital and technological change.