I admit it. I’m an old fart. I’ve seen a lot of changes in my lifetime.
Let’s start with technology. I remember punch card computing. I didn’t actually do it, but I knew about it. By the way, did you know they used to make wreaths out of used punch cards?
Solitaire was played with cards. Multi-player games meant you sat at a table or on the floor and and played Monopoly or Mousetrap or Candyland with your friends and family.
I remember the days of modems and BBSs and having to make sure you didn’t use the phone when you were on line. I remember fan-folded paper and dot-matrix printers. I remember copy machines that used rolls of paper. You could only make one copy at a time and you had to cut the paper after each copy. Better than having to type on three-copy paper and praying you didn’t make a mistake.
I remember the days of party lines for your phone. (You shared a line with your neighbors, and only one person could talk at a time.) You didn’t share a phone number, just the line on the poles. You paid for long distance calls by the minute. I remember the first mobile phones. (They didn’t fit in your pocket!) and the different variations of the cell phones. Oh, and when cell phones only made calls. Texting wasn’t a thing unless you had a pager.
I watched the first moon landing on T.V. and have seen numerous launches of the space shuttle from my front yard when I lived in Florida. (As well as other rockets.)
Just for fun, let’s throw in a few non-technology memories.
Country music was Country-Western and the singers wore cowboy hats. Remember Roy Rogers and Dale Evans? Rock was still finding its way. The Beatles were hot and hair bands weren’t a thing, let alone disco. Auto-tune? Ha!
When you colored, you used crayons or colored pencils, not markers. (The 64 color box with a built in sharpener was every kid’s dream.) And adults would have felt silly buying a coloring book for themselves. But you could paint-by-number.
What will the other authors on the hop remember? I’m off to find out. But you can share your memories in the comments!
August 7, 2017 – List some of the things that you have seen change or develop in your lifetime.
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I remember watching, absolutely amazed, as the lunar capsule splashed down into the sea.
I regret never being able to see a shuttle landing, although I did hear the sonic booms when it came in several times.
Those dang markers give me a headache every time!
I remember watching the first moonwalk with my mom. We lived in a one-room cabin at the time and she had a rule against eating in the livingroom section (which was also her and Dad's bedroom), but she opened up the hide-a-bed and popped popcorn (in a covered skillet back in those day — another change) and broke that rule for one night only. Dad was bummed because where he worked 50 miles away, they couldn't get television reception good enough to actually see the landing.