Computer problems and revelation!

It is amazing how life advances forward and things you once thought you would NEVER be dependent on become your life's blood. I am sorry you have been missing me of late, this is not due to the crash of my beautiful MacBook Pro! No the crash was that of my 17 year old daughter's small IBM clone problematic laptop! I know, I know; other Mac users are saying  "BOOO!", her using a PC versus a Mac was not my decision but one made by her father a die-hard Windows user. The one of the many incompatibilities between my ex-husband and myself. Since she is in her senior year and taking an all AP course load, I had to be sympathetic when she hi-jacked my laptop. Not happy, but understanding. This dilemma and sudden seizure of my laptop prevented me from posting to my blog. Since I am a mom who finds the time to write only if the  rest of the family is preoccupied; if your laptop is away, blogging is too.

Which got me to thinking, recently there was an article regarding the technology and things how children born today, will never use as part of their everyday or even know about outside of a museum. When I was my daughter's age, computers existed in few homes and in one classroom, the concept of owning a computer or more than one, was alien to most of us then. This article made me realize that I have been fortunate in having bear witness to many devices that have made life easier; although perhaps a little less social on a personal level. This wave of new technology has brought new language to the Webster dictionary, that years ago my English teacher Mrs. Lorraine Brooks would have been red lettering my paper for. (On a side-note; Thank you my dear Mrs Brooks for making me have a greater appreciation for sentence structure and clearly conveying a scene, thought, or emotion to my readers).

When I was a kid, the birth of the modern arcades existed; with games like Centipede, Pac-Man, Asteroids and Space Invaders; and every kid had a stash of quarters in their pockets. Evolving to home systems from Atari to today's XBox 360, PS3. I saw television go from rabbit ear antennas to cable offering a few extra channels. Today we have satellites and we all said goodbye to analog. Televisions themselves transformed from monstrous tubes to flat panels. If you have an iPad you can use this as your portable television, as long as you have wi-fi.

My youngest child will never know what a phonograph is, cassette tapes or perhaps even CDs. Meanwhile, I can recall 78's to 33's. If you don't know what I am talking about, go ask your parents. I also have seen the ever changing guard of the telephone.  Landlines were the only option and everyone had that one phone with the ever-so-long cord that would twist endlessly as you walked around your house, seeking privacy for your phone call. Today homes are beginning to do away with landlines, opting for wireless phones which have undergone their own progression into the future. Personally, I am waiting for a cell phone that comes in pill form. Used to be cell phones came with its own suitcase, now its down to one that fits in your pocket. Today, you can use you iPhone to make calls, be your map and surf the net to buy tickets for a movie after watching the trailer online. WOW! Times have most definitely changed.

My little one will also never know of a VCR; which was every working woman or man's and college student's salvation to record endless episodes of soap operas and miscellaneous shows. Gone also is the day of the soap opera, only to be replaced with what I lovingly refer to as filler television, aka reality series. She also will not know of walkmans, pagers, floppy disks and typewriters, most of which was a large part of my young adulthood.

In my lifetime, I can say that as we evolved and technology grew, we got to see some pretty remarkable things. Still it is the smile, my now almost four year old, gets when she sees empty laundry baskets and constructs a "car" and I realize that simplicity is best for some of us. Perhaps to keep the kid alive in all of us we need to hold on to some of the past. So pardon me as I go and create a world made from empty tissue boxes and toilet paper rolls. Don't worry though, I will be listening to my music over my iPod touch.

Today's quote and really it is something to think about;“As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of "do it yourself".” Marshall McLuhan