First of all, yeah, I'm actually blogging on a Saturday! This never happens. :)
Day 3: How has technology changed since you were younger?
Seeing that technology has changed so much in the past 5 years, you can imagine how much it has changed since I was a kid (many, many years ago).
First of all, computers have come a LONG way. I remember in first grade taking a computer class. I just remember we had to type in a long code and the cursor (called a "turtle") would either turn or draw a line. Just to prove to y'all I wasn't remembering it wrong, I Googled it and found this.
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| See, it IS a turtle! |
Anyone else remember this? It was part of
Logo, which was a programming language. I actually have my Logo programming book from elementary school (it's in my scrapbook). Despite there being computers in my middle school, I took my typing class (yes, it was a required class), on an old school typewriter.
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Here's a picture of a typewriter (for all the kiddos who read my blog and don't know what one looks like). :)
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We had to keep a cover (I think it was just a piece of paper) over our hands so we couldn't see the letters on the keyboard. Nowadays whenever I type something and hit the backspace or delete button, I think what a pain that would be to have to use whiteout and type back over my mistake. I'm definitely glad we don't have to use typewriters anymore. I'm a big fan of being able to go back and correct my mistakes with the easy push of a button. I probably hit the backspace five or six times just typing this paragraph!
In middle school I took a computer class. I'm going to be honest and say the only thing I remember is our "free" days where we could play Oregon Trail or Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? If my 7th grade computer teacher Mr. Eggleston is reading this, I'm so sorry that's all I got out of your class, BUT, it was a fun class! :)
These are the AWESOME graphics we had back then for those games.
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| My people always got sick and died before we got to Oregon. |
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| I so loved Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. |
I didn't really have a lot of exposure to video games growing up. I remember my Bubba had Pong. I thought it was the coolest thing ever (I was also six and easily amused). He also had that handheld football game (where the players were just red dots). My nephew Danny got a Nintendo at some point in the late 1980s, so I remember playing (the original) Super Mario Bros. Video games today are so realistic looking, I think I'm watching a live action movie or something.
Of course, the use of cellphones had changed A LOT. Growing up a few of my friends' parents had car phones (they had to have a special antenna on the car for it to work). I thought I was cool when I got a phone in my bedroom (it wasn't my own line, BUT I could talk to my friends on the phone in the privacy of my bedroom, instead of in the den). I thought it was the greatness thing ever. My phone was never this cool looking, but I had a friend or two who had this one.
I got my first cell phone in 1999 when I was in college. It was a Nokia and the only game on it was something called Snake. A few years later I got a flip phone with a built in camera (exciting times). The quality of those pictures were awful, but I remember thinking how cool it was I could be somewhere and just take a picture with my phone. It's second nature to me now. I don't even think about taking pictures with my phone, it's habit. I caved and got an iPhone in 2009. Even those have improved since then.
I don't think I started texting on a regular basis until 2004. And even then I MAYBE sent 100 texts a month. My how times have changed. I can bet there are some days where I send more than 100 texts a day. And I use my phone for so much: Texting, social media, listening to music, taking pictures, watching videos, and, oh, yeah, I sometimes even use it to make calls! If you had told a 14 year old Rachel who was so excited she had her own phone in her room that one day she would use a phone for pretty much everything EXCEPT talking to people, I would have laughed.
Yeah, I know I left out a lot of other ways technology has changed, but this gives you an idea.
Happy Saturday!!
XOXO!!
