Twenty-Five Years of Change

Today, I am twenty-five years old. I am one quarter of a century. And what a quarter it has been. I realized what changes I have witnessed in only those twenty-five years.

This was what started the discussion on technological changes. I was attempting to take some pictures from the train, and I took a bunch of the same thing, trying to get a good one. We knew we could just go through and pick out the best ones later, because we had digital cameras. And what a wonderment it is. I remember taking pictures with film, hoping the pictures turned out and only taking a few special pictures, never nearly as many as we do these days. Remember the view finders and purchasing film at jacked prices because you ran out. Now everyone has tiny digital cameras.

Another thing EVERYONE has is a cell phone. Everyone, not even just every family, but every family member older than 14, has one and they do amazing things. They play music, take pictures, surf the web, watch movies, play games, oh, and call. They come in cool colors and slimly fit in your pocket. And I remember before really anyone had one. (I even remember when Caller ID was catching on.) When I went away to college, I got a cell phone. It was a brick of a phone, but my brother and friends were both very jealous, because none of them had one. However, by the time my contract was up and I could get a new phone, they all had phones, and cooler ones than mine by far. Every year, new phones come out, and they are all cooler than the ones before. You are almost afraid to pick one because you know the next cool one will be out soon.

I sit here typing on my year old Macbook. I love it dearly and don't know what I would do without it. However, 10 years ago, hardly anyone had laptops. My dad did, but it really wasn't the sort of thing you'd want to carry around with you. And of course, it could never do half the things my computer can do now. It certainly wouldn't be the kind of thing you'd bring to Europe with you. It would be far to heavy and there wouldn't be much benefit. You couldn't book your hostel online or update your blog or Skype your parents. Internet in general wasn't close to what it is today. I remember when Dial Up came, and you had to be careful about being on too long because of people trying to call. Then one person I know got DSL, which seemed like lightning in comparison. Now of course, I get impatient when a page doesn't instantly load and expect everywhere I go to have WiFi. This laptop has drastically changed my life.

Another change I've alluded to is the music revolution. Growing up, we had a record player. My brother and I had our favorite record. However, when that broke, my parents jumped straight to a six tray CD changer. I was not so quick. My first ever portable music player was a Walkman, which played tapes. I had a number of favorite tapes, some of which I made myself. Then I got a portable CD player. It had horrible anti-skip, and I always had to be careful how I carried it. That lasted quite a while for me, because I got a car and started listening to radio. But just recently I finally got on the MP3 wagon and got an iPod. Pretty much everyone I knew already had one, so I was behind the times. Of course now, I wouldn't think of getting anything else. Music is almost all digital. I'm just as likely to buy a CD online as I am to buy one in store.

Another technology change I vividly recall happened while I worked at Blockbuster. When I started working there, it was all VHS tapes. We had to check and make sure all of them were rewound. Then, there came a time when we had to make a DVD section. It was a small section on a few shelves at first. Eventually, however, it became apparent we had to make room for these DVDs on the Wall, and intermix them with the VHS. Pretty soon, there were titles only being released in DVD and only the big titles came in VHS, two copies shelved at the beginning. Finally, none of the titles came in VHS. We had a few complaints, mostly parents of small children or relatives of people staying in the hospital, but overall, it was a smooth transition. DVDs had replaced VHS, and it was obvious why. However, even now DVDs are being replaced by Blue Ray. And so it continues.

I have not been alive that long. I did not live through WWII or hear Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech. I can not recall where I was when Kennedy was shot, nor when we landed on the moon. I did not see the first steam engine, or commercial flight, or Space Shuttle. However, I have witnessed many changes. I went from film to digital, corded to cell phones, and records to MP3s. I am part of the internet revolution and witnessed the DVD takeover. I was alive when the Berlin Wall came down, the Twin Towers were hit, and the first black president was elected. I have seen much change in these twenty-five years of life.