Friday, July 24, 2009

Life in the Fast Lane

Today something occurred to me while I was setting the DVR to record (another thought, that is, besides the fact that I have to stop myself EVERY time from saying I'm "taping" a show): my kids will have only a passing memory of what a VCR is. We switched from VHS tapes when they were younger, and I was sick to death of rewinding Baby Einstein over and over. This daydream led me to other inventions I grew up with that have become obsolete...

cassette tapes--they will remember these only because my husband paid extra to have a cassette deck put in his car when he bought it (don't ask me why--he's a total techie in all other ways).
CDs--these are of course still around, but becoming unnecessary, when you can download songs and carry your entire music collection around in your pocket on an MP3 player.
typewriters--I have tried to explain these machines to them, and they stare at me incredulously, waiting to see if I'm joking. (They did manage to ask in stunned disbelief, "How do you SAVE things? What if you make a mistake? Then we had to discuss "White-Out...")
pay phone
--they won't ever have to dig up enough change to make a call...or wrestle with a huge telephone book to find the number they want. Heck, they don't even need to call anyone at all, since e-mail or texting are quicker and easier!
banks--when they need money, they won't have to make sure the building is actually open for business, thanks to ATMs and online accounts (how I ever lived without them, in the Dark Ages, is beyond me).
cash--who needs it when there's plastic (thank goodness, as I've been known to charge a 2-dollar coffee at Dunkin' Donuts!)
photographic film--I still have both kinds of cameras, but my kids went straight to digital, meaning that they always ask, "Can I see the picture?" after I take one of them.

I'm sure you can think of other things that were wondrous and magical when they first debuted, and now seem like relics for a Museum of Ancient (Pre-Technology) History. And as I sit here and finish this up on my laptop computer (backspacing over typos, cutting and pasting sentences from one place to another, auto-saving my work), I feel very grateful for the advances of modern life!

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