This New-Fangled World
Technology! You can't live without it but it is tempting to try some days!
First I had to tackle the computer. When we got our first computer back in the early 1990's it was fun to learn to run it and see all that it could do. It wasn't windows-based nor was it dos-based, so I guess I don't really know what kind of operating system it had...we were that uninformed about computers. We got it over Christmas vacation while the kids were home, and that was a good thing. Poor Heather, the only child in high school, couldn't even go to the bathroom without being summoned to the computer to help Mom or Dad out of a jam. The one thing I still can't figure out is why there was a key on the keyboard that said "print", but it was not the way to get the computer to print. The computer came with a dot-matrix printer that used continuous feed paper. It's funny now, 25 years later, how up-to-the-minute we thought we were! I am happy to report that we have now arrived in the 21st century and now have a laptop computer that can print to our inkjet printer in the other room. We have internet and email and all sorts of new-fangled options that still give me fits occasionally!
Cell phones were a bit slow coming to rural Nebraska. We first of all had a "bag" phone. We carried it in the car and could only use it when we were somewhere to get cell service. Pretty sure it never did us much good! I can still remember the day that the local cell phone towers went live near our town. By this time I had a hand-held cell phone and had to call everyone I knew to let them know that my phone now worked in Springview! And now Springview is gaining a new cell phone company so our options are growing.
Now that I have a phone in my hand most of the time, I never "talk" to much of anyone. Text message is the most common way of communicating. Mike will ask me if I've talked to any of the kids lately. No, I probably haven't talked to them but the texts have been flying back and forth quite often.
Cell phones have changed the way the world communicates. Not so many years ago, if you wanted to call someone, you had to know where to call them. Were they at home? Were they at work? Maybe they were neither and you couldn't reach them at all. These days you only need a cell phone number for the person you want to talk to and you can probably reach them wherever they might be, including in the bathroom as many people carry that phone EVERYWHERE!
Mike is always one step ahead of me in technology and had a smart phone ahead of me. I held fast to my resolve to stay with just a plain cell phone until the time we were in Rapid City and I needed to check our bank balance. I have now gotten my second smart phone and I actually take it to bed with me so that I can catch up my Words With Friends games before I fall asleep!
My poor kids are still struggling to keep me in the loop on technology. Teri recently dropped her Facebook account, so in order to keep in touch I had to sign up for Instagram. That was a week-long process that finally took some coaching from my daughter to get finished. Then I had to figure out how to post to Instagram...and was disappointed to find out that posting apparently has to be done with my phone.
Which brings me to another leap in technology...the camera. We have a very nice digital camera (as opposed to a non-digital camera that uses film...not sure they make such a thing anymore) which I try to take with me all the time so as not to miss any photo ops. This works fine most of the time as I can just download the pictures to my computer and do whatever I need to do with them...post them to Facebook, save them, delete them or share them somewhere--except Instagram! So, from now on I need to remember to snap a few pictures with my phone if it's something I want to share on Instagram.
All this marvelous technology has come about in the past 25 or so years. Where will another 25 years find us? I'm sure we can't even imagine what technology and communications will look like then. In the meantime, I hope my kids keep up with the new trends because they will become my tech support!
First I had to tackle the computer. When we got our first computer back in the early 1990's it was fun to learn to run it and see all that it could do. It wasn't windows-based nor was it dos-based, so I guess I don't really know what kind of operating system it had...we were that uninformed about computers. We got it over Christmas vacation while the kids were home, and that was a good thing. Poor Heather, the only child in high school, couldn't even go to the bathroom without being summoned to the computer to help Mom or Dad out of a jam. The one thing I still can't figure out is why there was a key on the keyboard that said "print", but it was not the way to get the computer to print. The computer came with a dot-matrix printer that used continuous feed paper. It's funny now, 25 years later, how up-to-the-minute we thought we were! I am happy to report that we have now arrived in the 21st century and now have a laptop computer that can print to our inkjet printer in the other room. We have internet and email and all sorts of new-fangled options that still give me fits occasionally!
Cell phones were a bit slow coming to rural Nebraska. We first of all had a "bag" phone. We carried it in the car and could only use it when we were somewhere to get cell service. Pretty sure it never did us much good! I can still remember the day that the local cell phone towers went live near our town. By this time I had a hand-held cell phone and had to call everyone I knew to let them know that my phone now worked in Springview! And now Springview is gaining a new cell phone company so our options are growing.
Now that I have a phone in my hand most of the time, I never "talk" to much of anyone. Text message is the most common way of communicating. Mike will ask me if I've talked to any of the kids lately. No, I probably haven't talked to them but the texts have been flying back and forth quite often.
Mike is always one step ahead of me in technology and had a smart phone ahead of me. I held fast to my resolve to stay with just a plain cell phone until the time we were in Rapid City and I needed to check our bank balance. I have now gotten my second smart phone and I actually take it to bed with me so that I can catch up my Words With Friends games before I fall asleep!
My poor kids are still struggling to keep me in the loop on technology. Teri recently dropped her Facebook account, so in order to keep in touch I had to sign up for Instagram. That was a week-long process that finally took some coaching from my daughter to get finished. Then I had to figure out how to post to Instagram...and was disappointed to find out that posting apparently has to be done with my phone.
All this marvelous technology has come about in the past 25 or so years. Where will another 25 years find us? I'm sure we can't even imagine what technology and communications will look like then. In the meantime, I hope my kids keep up with the new trends because they will become my tech support!
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