I remember when ...

I was taking pictures of my 18-month-old niece at a family reunion a couple of weeks ago. After every shot, she came up to me to see the picture I just took. She had to see every picture. Her world is so different from mine— I never saw pictures until weeks later when I had already forgotten what pictures had been taken.

She, however, will never know anything different than an instant, fast-paced world of technology that is constantly evolving—becoming faster and sleeker with each upgrade.

It made me think of when I went to a museum in Chicago a few years ago. It had a section that represented the decades of the 20^th century. I was with a group of 14-year-old girls, and they were amazed to see one of the first Macintosh Computers on display. They thought it looked so archaic. My thought? …That is the computer I first used in school—how could something I’ve used possibly be in a museum? I’m not that old.

The thing is, I’m not that old—29 to be exact. I was born in 1980, between Mount St. Helens erupting and the USA boycotting the Olympic Games in Moscow. I grew up wearing neon clothing, hearing my older sisters rock out to grunge music and—unbeknownst to me—participating in a growing technological revolution.

This post is nostalgic and muses on how technology has changed in my short lifespan. By the time my niece is 29 years old, I’m sure she’ll write something like “I remember when we still had desktop PCs or separate phone, cameras, and IPods.”

How far have we come? Indulge me for a minute as I relive a few memories. I know you will be tempted to outdate me—feel free. I would love to hear what you remember as you think back on how technology has changed your life. There was a time when all these things were normal—they were just part of how we lived and communicated. Now, the world will forever be changed by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google. But, there were days when life was different. Take a jaunt down memory lane with me, just for fun.

I remember:

• using a real card catalog at the local library
• watching my first movie on a VCR: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
• sending away for information about Scotland for my world report
• using a hardcopy of an Encyclopedia to research
• playing Super Mario Bros. and Oregon Trail
• making music mixes on cassette tapes
• typing school papers on my mom’s old typewriter and using correction strips
• using pay phones to call my mom to pick me up after school
• thinking pagers were cool
• buying and using film for my camera
• writing real letters to people
• using a CD for the first time and not knowing what to do
• signing up for my first email account (as a freshman in college)
• registering for my college classes via the phone (which was still attached to the wall)
• buying and using phone cards
• using floppy discs, then hard discs, then zip drives, and now flash drives
• memorizing phone numbers since I didn’t have a cell phone. (There was a time when people didn’t carry cell phones around—I’m not sure how we functioned without them. We must have been better planners.)
  
  

Here’s your chance to outdate me. I know you want to!