Reflections on Changing Technology

The other day I came across this article that listed 10 things that kids today wouldn’t experience.  I started thinking about things that I use to have or do, that I don’t anymore.

1. VHS tapes and player – My parents still have one in the house.  They were huge fans of recording everything my brother and I did and then transfering them onto VHS tapes.  A lot of memories on these things.  My mom has talked of transfering the footage onto DVDs, but it has yet to happen.
2. Life without the internet – I grew up just as the internet was gaining popularity.  I remember my parents were really adament against having cabled internet.  I have vivid memories of dialing up, along with the noise and the inability to use the phone, when I need to do research on the internet.  When we finally got cabled internet, it was a whole new world had opened for me.  Do you remember ICQ?  I was so excited when I got my first account.  Now, the internet is everywhere and I’m so obsessed.  I’m not sure if I could revert back to pre-internet days.
3. No cell phones – Align with no internet not having a cell phone is probably a weird concept to today’s kids.  I didn’t get my first cell phone until my last year of high school.  I didn’t get a plan until I moved out and needed one.  I use to have people’s phone numbers memorized.  Now, all I remember is my home number.  Every thing else is programed into my phone (and google contacts as backup).
4. Reading physical books – Today on the bus, the person sitting across from me had a kindle.  More often than not, I see people reading on their iPads when I head to work.  When I was a kid, I read a lot.  I would stay up until odd hours of the day reading just so I could finish it.  Now, I do most of my reading online and if I do read a physical book, I have a lot of trouble trying to finish it – I’m working on it though!  Trying to get back into a habit of reading consistently.
5. Buying CDs – What was the last CD you bought?  Mine?  I don’t remember.  Probably back in high school.  What was the last song you bought online?  This is probably more recent for most people.  I definitely don’t remember the last time I walked into a physical store to purchase a CD.

Its just strange to think that many things that I grew up with and only vaguely remember are not as prevalent.  My brother who is only a couple years younger than I am, probably doesn’t remember dailing up for the internet or buying CDs.  Its just so strange.  Technology has changed so fast in my life span.  I love it.  So exciting to see what else could be invented in the coming years.

UPDATE: Another thing I came up with – being able to spell properly aka life without spell check.  It always annoys me when there are careless mistakes and spelling errors when reading online, especially on Facebook, Youtube and other places people can post.  With computers and word processors with built in spell checks, dictionaries are barely used.  I’m guilty of being using spell check to double check my spelling, but the computer can’t catch all grammatical errors.  Soon people won’t be able to string together a decent sentence!