I feel old
I was thinking today of all the things that SJ is growing up knowing. Things that didn't even exist when I was a kid. She will possibly never know what a walkman is or a hardbound encylopedia. She'll never get to ride a bike without a helmut and she'll be confined to a car seat until she's 80 pounds. She will never experience life without a computer or Google or instant messaging. I can picture future SJ going to a musuem with an exhibit entitled, "Growing up in the 70's and 80's...What Life was Like Back Then." Here's a few of the things I thought about. I'm sure there are many others, but the more I think about them the older I feel!
- iPods. If you were lucky when I was a kid you had a walkman you put a tape in. Not to mention those big, black headphones that went with it.
- Cell Phones. Remember the old fashioned rotary phones?
- Computers. If you had to type something you did it on a typewriter. If you kept records you did it on paper!
- The Internet. If I wanted to look something up I went to the library or consulted my set of Encyclopedia Brittanicas.
- Digital Cameras. We had a Polaroid instant camera and then there were the 35mm film cameras.
- Bike Helmets. Back when I was a kid I don't recall people feeling riding a bike was so risky that one needed a helmet. And, kids even got to ride in the front seat of the car! We really lived life on the edge!
- Remote Controls. I always thought one reason my parents had kids was so we would get up to change the channel on the t.v. Thankfully we only had 3 channels back then.
- TiVo. Later we got a VCR and that was so cool!
- CD/DVD. Remember 8 tracks, record albums, tapes? And once you could rent a movie you had to specify Beta vs. VHS.
- Dishwashers. This was another reason I thought why parents had kids :)
posted by Jill @ 5:45 PM
7 Comments:
Phone books. You mentioned the internet, but phone books in particular seem completely out-dated to me. I haven't used one in years and am annoyed every time a new one is dumped on our porch.
I remember my family's first microwave, VCR player and CD player! I also remember saving up to buy myself a personal CD player the summer after my freshman year of college. I think it's a little funny now that we can't even check out all the books on tape at the library because we don't have a tape player for them.
We still don't have an ipod, mostly because I can't seem to come up with enough reasons to buy one, though I want one.
Remember when velcro shoes were the "hot new thing?"
And it wasn't until about high school that the question "Can this go in the recycling bin?" even had any meaning...
in 20 years our kids will be saying, "Remember CDs?"
We actually had kids to give us grandchildren and to take care of us in retirement. First mission accomplished. How's it looking on the second?
ummmm....well....gee....err. Maybe I can just go back to changing the channel on your t.v? :)
Given that you've done such a good job re: providing grandchildren, we'll accept the offer to change channel. Think of all the money we'll save on batteries!
Wait a second. Do televisions these days actually have a manual channel changer on them? I don't think ours do. Therefore, I'd still have to use the remote, which means you don't get much more out of me doing the work! I guess you might avoid a thumb overuse injury though, which would make your retirement years better.
Hummmmmm....thumb overuse injury. Avoiding such an injury may be good for my golf game and therefore make retirement better. You might be on to something. BTW, would you turn of FOX News so I can check the stock market numbers and then go to Sports Center so I can check on the scores in the Masters. Retirement is good!!
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