Technology During my Lifetime

Over the course of my life, I've adjusted to the changing technology. It seems that the longer a technology is around, the physically smaller (more compact) it becomes and the cheaper it is to purchase (although the it becomes less durable). These technologies help us communicate more effectively, entertain us, as well as make our work less manual.

I've seen how playing and recording music (audio) has changed since I was a little girl. My grandmother still played a Victrola, a phonograph that had to be manually cranked ... to the record player that played vinyl records at speeds of 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm ... to the 8-Track tape player (short lived) ... to Cassette tape players ... to the present Compact Disc (CD) players. Oops, I almost forgot about the newest in music, the iPod which plays MP3 files. One medium that hasn't changed that much is the Radio.

I've also seen changes in television, although less dramatic. Our first set was a rather bulky "black and "white" and then we upgraded to "color" (only after the black/white sets were obsolete) which received reception via rabbit ears or an outdoor antennae which ... on a good day would get reception from three stations. The TVs became smaller over time and then cable TV became available to select customers, usually in urban areas ... today there is digital capability and satellite TV stations from all over the world.

Does anyone out there remember the rotary dial telephone? or party lines? Phones eventually became touch tone ... then cordless which gave the user mobility ... and lastly the cellular phone which gives the user even more mobility and allows us to send "text messages". Where would we be if we couldn't make phone calls while shopping?

Cameras have also evolved. I remember the "black and white" pictures of when I was a little girl and then the "color" pictures as a teen. They needed to be fed film and had to be developed before they could be seen ... then along came the Polaroid camera where the picture developed before your eyes ... I was so amazed! Next came the camcorder (cameras that recorded moving objects that played in VCRs) ... and now we have digital cameras that don't need film. If you don't like how you took the picture, with the touch of a button it is deleted. VCR players have also come a long way in their short history. The first VCRs were Beta and VHS players ... today we play our movies in DVD players.

Typewriters have advanced from manual (a lot of energy was need to type) ... to the electric (the keys used to jam when you typed too fast). IBM developed a machine to allow faster typing - the "Selectric" (a ball rotated as you typed along). Eventually IBM developed a magnetic typewriter that allowed revisions to be entered, thereby saving the user from either making messy corrections or retyping the entire document. Computers were on the horizon ...laptops ... and then all the benefits of the Internet ... and typing became "keyboarding".

We'll have to watch and see where technology takes us next.