Technology in my lifetime

Technology

I was born in the 1960s, an age when technology was changing rapidly. The United States was racing to get to the moon and Americans were enjoying the products that resulted from the research for space travel. Although most people would not consider the beverage “Tang” to be associated with technology, it is however a result of a technological need for the space program. Astronauts needed sustenance that could survive the trip into outer space without spoiling. During my life technology has changed rapidly. As a child the acquisition of a television with a remote was a huge technological advancement in our family home.

A few years later the microwave oven changed food preparation. My first experience with a microwave was at a relative’s house who had just remodeled her kitchen. She demonstrated the microwave by getting an ice cream cone and placing a marshmallow inside the cone. A few seconds in the microwave and the marshmallow expanded to look like an ice cream cone. I was fascinated watching this new invention, but had no idea how much that would come to impact my life in the future. Today I not only have a microwave in my kitchen, but it is also can operated as a convection oven.

A few years after the microwave came into my life I was introduced to the home computer. It was a simple machine made by Texas Instruments and the neighbor next door had one. I was attracted to the games that could be played on the computer, but the reason the neighbors had a computer was for writing and organization. When I graduated from high school in 1984 my parents got me a portable computer. The Kaypro computer was incredible, but compared to contemporary models extremely bulky. It was the size of a small suitcase and was primarily a word processor.

Registering for college classes was a technological marvel in that day. Each student would work their way around a room filled with tables that represented each department and select their classes by obtaining the punch card for that class. After all the classes had been selected the student would turn in the punch cards and a computer would read the cards and print out the student’s individualize schedule. Today registering for college classes is done by making a few selections on a website and submitting them. The process has changed drastically since 1984.

The advancement of the personal computer has also changed the way that we communicate. I obtained my first cell phone in the 1990s and was so proud of the bag phone that could be taken almost anywhere. A few years after that the Motorola flip phone allowed me to carry the phone in my pocket everywhere I went. It was almost a status symbol to be seen driving down the road using my flip phone. Little did I know that mobile phones were destined to be in almost everyone’s pocket within a few years.

The delivery of personal music has changed throughout my lifetime as well. As a small child I was recorded by my parents using a large reel to reel recorder and a microphone. Record albums were still on vinyl, but the 8 track was also available and was a popular way to listen to music in an automobile. The mid 1970s introduced the cassette player to me. The cassette tape was an integral part of my life well into adulthood. My first Sony Walkman was a cassette player that I could take anywhere. It would be replaced by a compact disc (CD) player. CD’s are still an important part of my life, but Itunes and streaming audio have changed the need to carry a CD anywhere.

The invention of the Apple Ipod was revolutionary in my life and allowed me to have music at my fingertips anywhere I went. The Ipod touch was merely a training tool for me preparing me for the release of Apple’s new Iphone. The Iphone changed my life. For the first time as a college professor I was able to be in constant contact with my students. Email was instantly available and the internet was at my fingertips anywhere I wanted to go. The Iphone also created an opportunity I had dreamed about since I was a little boy growing up in eastern New Mexico.

Sunday mornings growing up provided the opportunity to read a full section of cartoons in glorious color from the newspaper. One of my favorite comics was Dick Tracy. They sported watches that they could speak into and communicate with each other. I could only dream of the day I might be able to do that. That day is today with the invention of the Apple watch. In addition to talking into a watch I am able to watch television on my Iphone in a car or anywhere I have a signal.

Today the internet is only a few strokes away at all times. The personal computer I took to college in 1984 has changed and morphed into a small handheld device that serves as a work tool and a source of entertainment. Technology has an incredible impact on my daily life. As I am writing this post, I have checked a message on an Iphone, watched a movie recorded on my DVR from a satellite signal and was bathed in light from an LED lightbulb. I am sitting in a recliner that is motorized and moves with the slightest touch of my finger on a sensor switch.  Even the laptop that I am using to write this represents new technology for it is as light as air and about as thick as a magazine. Technology is such an integral part of my life today, which makes it is easy to overlook, and underappreciate the impact even a simple technology like a lightbulb has on my daily life. Embracing the future is to embrace the changes that technology will bring each day.