LIFE isn’t full of surprises. For most of us, it’s full of routine, mainly linked to the task of earning our daily bread.

But sometimes things happen that change our lives, attitudes and expectations. We call them “big bang moments”, although they often take effect over weeks or months. After them, things are never the same again.

The credit crunch, recession, austerity – whatever you call the mess we’re in – is like this.

People often ask me: “When will things get back to normal?”

My reply is: “Sorry, this is normal, so we had better get used to it.”

I’m not saying that hard times will last forever.

But our attitudes to public and private spending, borrowing and credit have changed. We are now far more cautious, and even pessimistic.

Plenty still hanker after the old “normal”.

Yesterday’s jam is always sweeter. But the memories of the taste of it will fade with time.

These gloomy thoughts are suited to a time of the year when Christmas is in the past and spring a long way off, but I’ve been feeling quite optimistic of late.

It was triggered by a lovely chat I had at the weekend with a regular reader of this column.

She’s in her seventies; her son is in his fifties. She does all she can to avoid computers and the like, while her son is master of every piece of hi-tech gadgetry going.

After our chat, I started observing how people use technology. On the bus, on the train, in meetings, they’ve all got their mobile phone on and using it for everything except talking. A lot of what they do is probably pretty trivial, playing games, checking social network sites for gossip, but even if one in ten uses it to get information or research then it is a big step forward.

I spend a lot of time with are my granddaughters, Nel, who’s four and Daisy who’s two-and-a-half. Nel is an expert at using mobile phones and anything that has a keyboard.

Daisy is catching her up quick, and is on top of her game when it comes to remote controls to TVs and DVD players.

I had Daisy with me when I was looking round a gym with a friend the other day. She spied a PC on a desk, and said: “Computer”.

Within seconds she had it working.

Admittedly, the attractions of a nearby bouncy castle soon won her over, but there is no doubt that the two of them are no different to many children of their age.

Technology opens massive opportunities for learning and creativity to young people.

The trick is to channel their curiosity and energy in the right direction.

Teaching is vital and I take heart from our local schools, like Ayresome Primary in central Middlesbrough where the head Trevor Hutchinson has begun an inspirational – there’s no other word for it – programme to introduce his pupils to the arts.

Unlike some, I don’t think young people have it easy. If they want a university education, they have to pay for it; if they want a job, they have to compete in the toughest market for decades. They go through an education system that is obsessed with testing and at times seems to delight in marking them down.

Above all, they have to cope with the new “normal” times we’ve created for them.

They’re growing up quicker and maybe wiser than we did – and they will surprise us yet.