What I Miss About The Pre-Technology Boom
The smart phone is only thirteen years old and the app universe we all live in has been holding us all hostage like Ming The Merciless for only about ten years. Although Facebook was started in 2004 it didn't become the Leviathan it is until around 2010. Things change fast in this day and age but things were once very different not so long ago. As big of a proponent as I am of the technological wonders years we live in there are quite a few things I miss about the prehistoric tech era.
I grew up in a time where the most technologically advanced gadget was the Sony Walkman. If you are at all familiar with this era you know that Sony was what Apple is today. Their Walkmans were incredible not only in their performance but also in their style. The music game of this era was cassettes. Yes, this was a time where you would buy an entire album for just one hit song and although iTunes got it right by letting us just buy the one song we like, the anticipation of the album coming out so we can get that one song was palpable back in those days. Speed and immediate access isn't always a good thing. Anticipation makes us appreciate things more. A sense of entitlement can't help but creep in when things are so easily and speedily accessible. The first video rental stores were all mom and pop establishments. Blockbuster and Hollywood video turned video rentals into Friday night social affairs. I used to look forward to it. The anticipation of the new release or finally getting around to seeing that must see movie all predated streaming tv and ten thousand cable channels, and was so much more fun.
It boggles the minds of many youths today when I tell them I didn't get my first cell phone until I was twenty-eight years old and even then I barely spoke on it until seven p.m. and on weekends. Yes, the conversations I used to have before the post free nights and weekends era were far more satisfying and enjoyable (even the mindless superficial ones) than the majority of the conversations I have today. I went through my entire youth and adolescence without immediate access and I gravely miss those days. I used to actually have to practice remembering a girl's number after of course she wrote it on a piece of paper so I could glowingly stare at it and admire her penmanship. Which brings me to another pre tech phenomenon, hand written letters. There was a time where if you were dating someone it was common practice to write them letters. This wasn't a gender specific practice as both men and women, boys and girls wrote one another letters. Ask people today about this practice.
I could go on and on about the things I miss about the pre Google, Facebook, Amazon, AOL, chat room, app culture days but the bottom line is I miss the quality of conversation, social connection and general anticipation of things. Technology is marvelous in certain areas. It has changed how we live and in many areas improved the quality of our lives. I may be in the minority in my opinion though that technology has gone the other way in the quality of our social matrix with one another because in our emotional and social lives increased speed does not produce quality in that realm.
I grew up in a time where the most technologically advanced gadget was the Sony Walkman. If you are at all familiar with this era you know that Sony was what Apple is today. Their Walkmans were incredible not only in their performance but also in their style. The music game of this era was cassettes. Yes, this was a time where you would buy an entire album for just one hit song and although iTunes got it right by letting us just buy the one song we like, the anticipation of the album coming out so we can get that one song was palpable back in those days. Speed and immediate access isn't always a good thing. Anticipation makes us appreciate things more. A sense of entitlement can't help but creep in when things are so easily and speedily accessible. The first video rental stores were all mom and pop establishments. Blockbuster and Hollywood video turned video rentals into Friday night social affairs. I used to look forward to it. The anticipation of the new release or finally getting around to seeing that must see movie all predated streaming tv and ten thousand cable channels, and was so much more fun.
It boggles the minds of many youths today when I tell them I didn't get my first cell phone until I was twenty-eight years old and even then I barely spoke on it until seven p.m. and on weekends. Yes, the conversations I used to have before the post free nights and weekends era were far more satisfying and enjoyable (even the mindless superficial ones) than the majority of the conversations I have today. I went through my entire youth and adolescence without immediate access and I gravely miss those days. I used to actually have to practice remembering a girl's number after of course she wrote it on a piece of paper so I could glowingly stare at it and admire her penmanship. Which brings me to another pre tech phenomenon, hand written letters. There was a time where if you were dating someone it was common practice to write them letters. This wasn't a gender specific practice as both men and women, boys and girls wrote one another letters. Ask people today about this practice.
I could go on and on about the things I miss about the pre Google, Facebook, Amazon, AOL, chat room, app culture days but the bottom line is I miss the quality of conversation, social connection and general anticipation of things. Technology is marvelous in certain areas. It has changed how we live and in many areas improved the quality of our lives. I may be in the minority in my opinion though that technology has gone the other way in the quality of our social matrix with one another because in our emotional and social lives increased speed does not produce quality in that realm.
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