45 Years of Being With and Without Technology
In 1969, I listened and watched (from the comfort of a play pen) Neil Armstrong walking on the moon while saying "Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." I was awed and instantly wanted to fly into space.
In 2012, I can go to Youtube.com and watch the same thing. I can go to on demand on my cable box, or netflix even. I can record it, delete it and do it all over again the next day.
In August of 1974, I really didn't care who Richard Millhouse Nixon was, but since he resigned one summer night, all of my favorite TV shows were interrupted that night, since my TV only had 5 channels.
In 2012, I have a cable box with over 300 channels of nothing to watch. I have set top boxes such as Boxee or Movie Nite with the same problem. Netflix ? Thats just a bore.
In 1975, my fathers right arm was my airbag and I never got hurt. I sat in the wayback of the 1974 Buick Estate wagon and climbed, jumped and didn't stay in my seat.
In 2012, my car has enough airbags that makes me hope they deploy if i land in water. Kids are properly restrained, lest you as a parent get fined or visited by DSS.
In 1978, I had cassette tapes, 8Tracks and vinyl records. If the tapes broke, you taped the tape. If the record got scratched, you got a new one. My cassette player/recorder was in mono.
In 2012, I have an iPod Touch, I have a satellite radio. CD's are now coasters. 4000 songs are now in the palm of your hand.
In 1979 I had a Coleco hand held football game. One game, poor movement, lousy sound.
In 2012, I have an iPhone, An Android Tablet, A Macbook Air and my own hotspot..I play Angry Birds, Top Gun and Golf without leaving my bed.
In 1980, I had Mad Magazine, Rolingstone and others.
1n 2012, I have the "Kindle" app. Paper reading material is so 2011
In 1981, I had an atari 2600 computer. I played Pong, programmed in basic and it used cassettes to save data.
in 2012, I have a Desktop running windows 8 beta, a Macbook air Running OSx Mountain Lion and have no games installed. Thats what my iPhone is for.
In 1984, i got paid on friday and put the check in the bank. I took out $xxx.xx for the weekend. If i ran out by sunday morning, I hope dad had extra.
In 2012, I never have cash. I have a debit card accepted at millions of ATM's
In 1985 as I prepared for my college years, My parents spent $3500 on a Mac 512K, Ms Word for Mac and an ImageWriter II dot matrix printer.
In 2012, My desktop, wifes laptop, my daughters netbook, my Macbook air and 3 wireless printers may be about the same price.
In 1986, I had college text book and had to use the library.
In 2012, there really is no such thing as an encyclopedia. And you can now borrow e-books
In 1990, I bought my first computer. It was a Mac Classic with 2 megs of ram and a 40 meg hard drive and an apple stylewriter inkjet printer It was $3000
In 2012 (see the listing below 1985)
In 1993 I knew of email, paid bills via the mail and sold print servers
In 2012, Whats a post office, whats a post office and what do you mean the printer isn't WiFi
In 1998, Windows 98 = Mac 86, Wow I have a 9600 baud modem, can i afford a 1 gig hard drive
In 2012, Windows 8 beta is almsot as good as OSx, high speed internet with WiFi and only $100 for a 1TB HD
In 2000, $500 for a Pilot, $140 for the modem and $99 for the B&W camera attachment
in 2012, the iPod Touch with WiFI and 5mp color camera is $199.
In 2003, the Motorola StarTac was the pinnacle of cell phones
In 2012, with out a smart phone and several apps, you are not smart
in 2005, plug it in, plug it in, plug it in.
In 2012, BlueTooth and Wireless or nuttin'
In 2010, $500 will get you a complete setup and will be the last PC system you will ever need
in 2012, Hey honey, can i take $400 from the bank, my pc is out of date.
At least in my lifetime, technology has changed not year to year, but almost day to day. What is high tech and the best of the best today will be yesterdays gadget maybe tomorrow or the next day.
Gone are the days of playing in the streets until the lights come on, because we now can "Skype" with our friends, new and old all day long for free. We can play baseball, basketball and bowl from the comforts of our home with the Wii or the Xbox360.
Our kids are so "connected" that they forget what it means to interact or think for themselves.
We can get money and most household items 24x7 thanks to ATM machines and all night stores.
What happened to the American family, family dinners or actual wholesome fun. What happened to the art of thinking, writing by hand and not being able to correct a mistake with a whole do-over ?
To my readers, Your thoughts please ?
Anna Bucciarelli
7:43 am on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Yes, I miss hearing kids outside playing ... they just don't do it anymore! Ocassionally I see a basketball hoop go up in a neighbor's driveway but I rarely see anyone but the dad out there and not for long ... the hoop comes down and real quiet resumes.
It is quicker and easier to email but I make every effort to use pen and paper to keep in touch with those who do not live close by and I like to stop in to visit with neighbors nearby just, making sure they know I'm nearby and that they are safe 9especially the elderly) and in my personal thoughts. Family dinners seem to be a problem for many with children off to "important" activities, couples both working and coming home tired so ordering in and eating in front of the TV is often the norm.
I miss a lot from the past but it is, after all, the past and move on we must. There is much to be appreciated in new technologies and much to be said about the "good 'ol days". Everything in it's place.
Bruce
8:24 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Great article. I enjoyed reading it. Sounds like we're from the same generation, except I gave up trying to stay on the edge technology a few years ago. Too expensive and exhausting to keep up. I just let the important stuff catch up with me. I must be officially "old" now.
I laughed at your Buick Estate Wagon reference. Sounds like we climbed over the same seats as a kid. I loved the fold-down one in the very back, that faced the cool rear doors that opened like a spaceship. Theses days, that sort of thing would be a NHTSA nightmare.
My boys didn't play nearly as much around the neighborhood as I did at their age. On summer days, I'd leave my house and come back only for lunch and the dinner whistle. No sunscreen, bug spray, cell phones, or play dates. What was West Nile? What was a pedophile? When the sun went down, we usually played "Kick-the-can" until our parents called us in. It was a whole different era and culture.
Overall, I think technology has given us some very useful tools over the years. It's just that we often chose to use them too much.