Nostalgia is not what it used to be. Today, it is even bigger, spawning an industry that is worth around $2 trillion, according to the "Mad Men" of the global advertising and marketing sectors.

From those clunky 1950s wireless sets to those hyper-colored vinyl records of the 1960s, a trip down memory lane is usually paved with dollar bills.

On eBay, 1970s retro fashion mingles with 1980s Walkmans, turning the vintage market into a $1.1 billion business.

It is only natural, of course, that we have a yearning for the past, a simpler life; a slower pace. In the age of smartphone technology, speed is king, whether booking a taxi online or paying for cinema tickets.

Too often, our mobile phones appear to be an extension of our fingers and brains, consuming our time and energy. Even the unexpected is taken out of the equation by our online obsession. Trends come and go but the Internet stands like a colossus in our wired-up existence.

It is hard to imagine when I was growing up in the 1960s, that one day you would be able to pay for your ticket for the latest must-see movie without turning up at the cinema. In China, this has become big business, with major online players scrambling for a slice of the market, according to a report by China Daily on May 4.

But while this trend might entrance the X and Y Generations, I'm afraid it leaves me cold, which is how I felt while lining up for a cinema ticket at the art deco Film Theatre in my hometown of Glasgow in Scotland. Like always, I had no idea what I was going to see.

In the end, I opted for The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch of the TV series Sherlock. Loosely based on the life of the British mathematician Alan Turing, the film focuses on his 1940s World War II exploits at the top secret code-breaking center known as Bletchley Park, which is 45 minutes from London by train.

Turin played a crucial role in unraveling the German naval Enigma code, which turned the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic against the Nazi U-boat packs. Without the work of Turin and his fellow code-breakers, the United Kingdom could have be starved into submission.

As this secret war in smoky rooms intensified, his masterstroke was to build a primitive computer known as the Turing machine. It was a stroke of genius and it has guaranteed his place in history.

Today, Turin, the mathematician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and marathon runner, is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

Pretty heady stuff. But I just wonder, if he was still alive, would he have booked a cinema ticket on a smartphone to watch Cumberbatch play him in The Imitation Game? Or would he have just turned up by chance to get out of the cold like so many people did in the golden age of cinema before this brave, new online world?

My money is on the 1940s option. After all, you can't beat nostalgia.

Contact the writer at watts@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 05/19/2015 page2)