Digital Bio - Boy! How times have changed!

My eighth period class in high school was computer math. It was 1984, so I had no interest in computers or math, I did however have an interest in the fellow that sat next to me named Rob, this was the beginning of my social-networking. Rob and I became good friends; we socialized everyday in our computer math class by way of actual conversations. There were no cell phones, no facebook, no instant messaging and no texting – back in 1984 social networking was literal – we socialized face to face to network -boy how things have changed.

It has been an interesting ride on the technology wave to date. Because I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s I virtually was able to watch the changes occur right before my eyes. I’ve watched as technology changed with phones, computer games and computers in general. At home we had a rotary phone, not a cordless phone; however the cord was so long I could literally walk around the entire house, stretching the cord the 1000 feet it extended too. I did have video games; my favorite was pong. I could sit for hours and watch the ball bounce back and forth on the television – ping, pong, ping, pong. When I entered college back in the 80’s my graphic design course consisted of an exact-o-knife and a ruler, not a computer. I made it through the 80’s with little computer interaction. By the early nineties, I began work as an administrative assistant. I remember in the interview, I was asked, “Do you know how to work a fax machine?” (Could you imagine that being one of the questions in today’s world) I had to befriend the fax machine along with the computer to print invoices. The printer continuously got jammed, along with the “roll” of fax paper. I usually spent the better part of my day fixing the jammed paper.

Around the mid-nineties, I took a job in the publishing field. I spent the majority of my time faxing and corresponding with clients via the telephone; back then I actually spoke to clients. The latter part of the nineties was something of a “technology” boom in my life. I began using Window’s 95 at work, the majority of my coworkers used books such as “Windows 95 for Dummies” to figure out the programs. Unlike today whereas computer classes are actually taught in school, we had to rely on each other to “figure it out” Soon after came the cell phone craze. I tried to hold out as long as I could to not get a cell phone – I finally gave in when I reached for a pay phone and picked up a receiver full of gum. I have to admit, I don’t think I could live without my phone today.

By the millennium, I was still working in the publishing field. So I had the benefit of continuously learning new computer software – I had to, it was either sink or swim with the continuous changes in the computer and digital world. I have watched as phones went from a size of brick down to the size of a credit card, a computer the size of an entire desktop to a sleek small laptop. I remember when call waiting, was just as it sounds - you called a friend, it was busy and you waited until they got off the phone. I have watched the conversion of music from 8-tracks to cassettes to cd’s to mp3 players to just getting what you want off the computer. Soon I believe email will be a thing of the past, with instant messaging, Skype and texting to replace it. All this technology has been an interesting ride!

I can’t wait for the day I can say to my daughter…”when I was your age, I had to actually get up to change the channel.”