I remember talking with my dad one day about the amazing changes and influence of what this world has to offer these days. This was several years ago but since that time things have changed even more than then.
One of the things in our conversation was the cell phone. As he said, imagine having been put into a prison say 20 years ago and then look at the changes that have happened since then with just technology. A cell phone at that time looked more like a walkie talkie. Now, they're so small that the days of Dick Tracy's wrist watch phone are here.
So why bring this up? Because I was thinking about kids going off to college these days who complain about what they do or don't have and letting them know what life was really like. Complaints about the newest Iphone or laptop would fall on deaf ears at my place. When they complain remind them of some of the things that have changed.
For instance (putting on old farts hat) when i was in college here is what we had. We didn't have a color TV or laptop we could watch something on, we had a black and white tiny portable TV. We didn't have cable access in the dorms so we watched what the antenna would pick up. We didn't have disc players and at the time video was only beginning with 2 inch tape cartridges the only thing there was with no one renting anything. No VHS or betamax (explain what those are now). If you wanted to see a movie you either saw it at the theater, on campus when movies were shown there or you waited till it came on TV and had to actually be home there to watch it. We didn't have a microwave. We had a hot plate (which we weren't supposed to have) or a tiny coffee pot that warmed water and held with luck 3 cups worth of water. If you cooked, you shared a two burner stove with the rest of the floor at the end of the hall. If you were hungry, the only places that delivered were either pizza places (this is how Dominos really got busy) or maybe a local sub shop if you were lucky. As for a phone, we shared a phone with the dorm room next door, a in the wall phone that was in a box between the two rooms. There were no cell phones then. Yes, I went to school in the dark ages. For music we had a fairly large stereo with huge speakers. We listened to either the radio or to albums that took up quite a bit of space and you had to be careful of not to melt or scratch.
These are just the entertainment areas of college then. Contrast that to now. I don't think black and white TVs exist any longer so they have to be all color. I'm not sure but I think dorm rooms come with cable now and if not they do have internet capability which means kids can watch shows online if need be. Disc players have come along with tons of movies available for rent at any time to watch. Even that has recently changed and kids can download their movies to the cloud now and watch without having to have the disc actually there in their hands, just an internet connection. Forget the hotplate, microwaves are small enough to fit in a dorm room now or be hidden in a closet if not allowed. There's no need for a shared phone now as almost everyone owns a cell phone. And as for music, you have choices like Pandora which offers a streaming mix of music categories you enjoy for free or you can have several thousand of you favorite songs in mp3 versions on a single disc or thumb drive. Plug those into your laptop along with a set of small but dynamic speakers and you have a full blown sound system in less space than a cassette deck would have taken years ago.
I'm not saying that these things are bad or that I begrudge that kids today have these items. I'm sure the things we had were far and above those of our parents when they went to college. Honestly for them I would think they didn't have any spare time and spent those hours either studying or working to pay for school.
What I am saying is that times change and items we are accustomed to change as well. And kids today need to realize how fortunate they are with what they have rather than be upset because they don't have the best of the best there is. I could be wrong but if they ever had a chance to realize what came before them maybe they might appreciate the things they have today a little bit more. That's not just dorm rooms but everywhere from that CD player in your car to just the internet at home. What would once have required several book cases in a room now can be found online with a few keystrokes and clicks.
It's an amazing world that we live in. It's amazing for the leaps we've taken over the past few decades. What would be even more amazing is if people would step back every now and then and take notice of the way things have changed and appreciate them each and every one.
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