Once upon a time the (king/queen) of the sea crabs, decided it would be a good idea, if instead of walking sideways, all the baby crabs went to school to learn to walk properly.

On the first morning they went to school walking sideways but came back home walking forwards.

However, they could never remember the lessons overnight and always went back to school walking sideways, so eventually gave up.

At 76, such is my increasing experience with smart tech.

I can be taught how to operate a website every morning only to completely forget how to do it by that afternoon.

Muscle memory is a thing of the past and although doing it every day for 30-plus years I now sometimes can't remember the correct order of buttons to operate my microwave, TV control or computer.

I sometimes just press random buttons until something eventually works.

The real aggravation is I cannot then remember what I pressed last.

While just about managing e-mail (with the help of spell check) I can now only remember three numbers at a time, have fingers too thick to type them into a small keyboard and a brain too slow to fill in all the spaces before the machine times out.

There is a growing and accelerating trend for access to their services, for companies and institutions to, for their own convenience and increased profits, assume and almost demand that the public owns a smartphone or has a bank account.

The much-publicised case of Wightlink refusing to accept cash is only the latest in this movement.

Giving universal access to online services is only part of the answer.

Not everyone will ever be able to access a bank account, or own and operate a smartphone.

This creates a whole group of mainly elderly and/or vulnerable disenfranchised individuals.

Is this not discrimination and therefore unlawful?

Should not an alternative non-digital and inclusive method, such as cash or human operator, always be available for accessing these services?

Read more letters sent to the County Press here. Do you have a view on this or any other subject? Send us a letter – under 350 words if possible - to editor@iwcp.co.uk