Techonology Rut
I've always considered myself as one who keeps up with technology. Maybe not running side by side with it, but quietly jogging a few feet behind, enjoying the latest and greatest.
Although not the first to get a smart phone, I feel like I got one "just in time" - it certainly has been a huge asset to my massage business. I know how to use face book, twitter, email, google maps, i pods, blue tooth, and, most obviously, blog spot. All this I have been diligently keeping up with, albeit a few steps behind. But it's enough to "survive" in the modern world.
One confession is my computer. A first generation IMac, it was a futuristic machine "all the way back" in 2003. About six months ago, I took it to the Mac store with a technical issue, and apparently it is categorized as "vintage." That is, any parts it needed had to be ordered on the internet third party and installed by someone smart enough to figure it out (in my case, my savvy husband).
Alert: one paragraph of reminiscing. Please bear with me while I attempt to make a point. I come from that last generation of "old school." No cell phone growing up. Video games were just starting to get "sophisticated" with the original Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers. Computers were in a lab at school - in one room. I didn't get one in my house until I was beginning high school. Internet was not available till I was a sophomore/junior. I didn't get a cell phone until I found myself with a flat tire in the middle of the night in a bad part of Fort Lauderdale. A friend and I were having a "fun night out" until I tried a Dukes of Hazard u-turn over a cement median. We had to risk immanent mugging, kidnapping or even death by running to a nearby gas station to use the phone. The next day, I got my cell phone.
I used to hand write letters and stories, and most prominent in my memory as "really ancient" was the dark room used in my high school photography class. This was real film, paper, and chemicals. Everything was so delicate and hands on. When I entered college as an art major, digital photography was in its infancy. This, along with my cell phone revelation, signaled a new age for me. When I stepped out of the dark room, and sat in front of a computer to work on images, I knew things were really changing.
That was the year 2000. And here I am, in 2011, and I am feeling the same way all over again, and it was all prompted by a visit to the movie theater.
But before I get to the movie theater, I must mention that all last week I had "inklings" of just how far I'd lagged behind technology lately. I was working on updating a page on my web site, and realized that the web design program I was using was created before face book began. I must have got it somewhere around 2006, and not bothered to upgrade it. Hey, it worked, just like my vintage IMac. After realizing the program had no capabilities of posting a "face book update widget", I realized I really needed a new program.
Next technology reality check was car research. I had no idea how much technology has developed in cars, and in affordable ones. Did you know that you can get a brand new Honda Civic with navigation system, blue tooth, fuel efficiency to rival most hybrids, and leather seats? This car is an incarnation
of the 1996 green hatchback I drove in high school, a car whose technology was limited to a 6 CD changer. When did cards leap this far ahead? I swear I was only researching them a year ago, really I was.
So this brings me to the point of this blog! The movie theater. My husband and I went to see a 3D movie. This was probably my 2nd 3D movie experience ever. But what struck me was the theater's own 3D advertisement. Several years ago - or perhaps only several months ago - it had this cheesy, "welcome to our theater" short that they show just before the previews, to try to make you go out in the lobby and spend way too much money on their concessions. The short was an animated roller coaster with tracks made out of a film strip. The roller coaster car rides the film strip up, down, and sideways, passing giant boxes of Goobers and cups of Coca Cola and bags of popcorn. The animation used to be funny, because the computer graphics were so bad. But now this short is in 3D. The film strip track is 3D. The popcorn and Coca Cola are 3D. The Goobers are 3D. The graphics, though still cheesy, are updated - even futuristic, in my opinion.
Upon watching this, I felt what a seventy-five year old at the turn of the century must have thought the first time she used a telephone. The biggest question was not "how did this happen", but "when did this happen?" Where was I when all this was going on?
I took a break from technology for one second, and now technology is coming up behind me, having completed five laps while I idled, taking a sip of Coca Cola, and eating a box of Goobers.
I generally like technology and understand its benefits, but sometimes I feel disconnected from it. In one of these moods, I often resort to less efficient means of communication, like hand-writing, and calling friends when I could have text messaged. What did the seventy-five year old do, who always physically "called" upon her neighbor, and now could merely pick up the handset and say hello? Didn't she, before even thinking of picking up the handset, grab her coat and open the front door? Did her neighbor get angry if she still dropped in? "Sorry Agnes, I forgot. I'll use the telephone next time." And here I am in 2011, "sorry Mary, I forgot. I'll text message next time."
Habits are funny things - you don't know how ingrained they are until you have to do something different. The 3D movie showed me that my habits may be more ingrained than I previously thought. I have found myself saying "that 3D thing will never catch on, who needs this?" when actually, it's pretty cool. Until I actually experienced 3D, my habits and thoughts would never have accepted its possibilities. I was closed off and completely oblivious to the world changing around me, until it had changed so dramatically that I could hardly believe it was real.
I feel lucky to have experienced life before the year 2000. I feel connected to the past, the way things used to be. But I also realize my knowledge of the past is a hindrance, something I need to keep as a happy memory but need to let go when learning to accept change. But there's only so much I can accept. All I know is, even though my bookshelves are overflowing with paperbacks, I'm not quite ready to buy that kindle just yet.
Although not the first to get a smart phone, I feel like I got one "just in time" - it certainly has been a huge asset to my massage business. I know how to use face book, twitter, email, google maps, i pods, blue tooth, and, most obviously, blog spot. All this I have been diligently keeping up with, albeit a few steps behind. But it's enough to "survive" in the modern world.
One confession is my computer. A first generation IMac, it was a futuristic machine "all the way back" in 2003. About six months ago, I took it to the Mac store with a technical issue, and apparently it is categorized as "vintage." That is, any parts it needed had to be ordered on the internet third party and installed by someone smart enough to figure it out (in my case, my savvy husband).
Alert: one paragraph of reminiscing. Please bear with me while I attempt to make a point. I come from that last generation of "old school." No cell phone growing up. Video games were just starting to get "sophisticated" with the original Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers. Computers were in a lab at school - in one room. I didn't get one in my house until I was beginning high school. Internet was not available till I was a sophomore/junior. I didn't get a cell phone until I found myself with a flat tire in the middle of the night in a bad part of Fort Lauderdale. A friend and I were having a "fun night out" until I tried a Dukes of Hazard u-turn over a cement median. We had to risk immanent mugging, kidnapping or even death by running to a nearby gas station to use the phone. The next day, I got my cell phone.
I used to hand write letters and stories, and most prominent in my memory as "really ancient" was the dark room used in my high school photography class. This was real film, paper, and chemicals. Everything was so delicate and hands on. When I entered college as an art major, digital photography was in its infancy. This, along with my cell phone revelation, signaled a new age for me. When I stepped out of the dark room, and sat in front of a computer to work on images, I knew things were really changing.
That was the year 2000. And here I am, in 2011, and I am feeling the same way all over again, and it was all prompted by a visit to the movie theater.
But before I get to the movie theater, I must mention that all last week I had "inklings" of just how far I'd lagged behind technology lately. I was working on updating a page on my web site, and realized that the web design program I was using was created before face book began. I must have got it somewhere around 2006, and not bothered to upgrade it. Hey, it worked, just like my vintage IMac. After realizing the program had no capabilities of posting a "face book update widget", I realized I really needed a new program.
Next technology reality check was car research. I had no idea how much technology has developed in cars, and in affordable ones. Did you know that you can get a brand new Honda Civic with navigation system, blue tooth, fuel efficiency to rival most hybrids, and leather seats? This car is an incarnation
of the 1996 green hatchback I drove in high school, a car whose technology was limited to a 6 CD changer. When did cards leap this far ahead? I swear I was only researching them a year ago, really I was.
So this brings me to the point of this blog! The movie theater. My husband and I went to see a 3D movie. This was probably my 2nd 3D movie experience ever. But what struck me was the theater's own 3D advertisement. Several years ago - or perhaps only several months ago - it had this cheesy, "welcome to our theater" short that they show just before the previews, to try to make you go out in the lobby and spend way too much money on their concessions. The short was an animated roller coaster with tracks made out of a film strip. The roller coaster car rides the film strip up, down, and sideways, passing giant boxes of Goobers and cups of Coca Cola and bags of popcorn. The animation used to be funny, because the computer graphics were so bad. But now this short is in 3D. The film strip track is 3D. The popcorn and Coca Cola are 3D. The Goobers are 3D. The graphics, though still cheesy, are updated - even futuristic, in my opinion.
Upon watching this, I felt what a seventy-five year old at the turn of the century must have thought the first time she used a telephone. The biggest question was not "how did this happen", but "when did this happen?" Where was I when all this was going on?
I took a break from technology for one second, and now technology is coming up behind me, having completed five laps while I idled, taking a sip of Coca Cola, and eating a box of Goobers.
I generally like technology and understand its benefits, but sometimes I feel disconnected from it. In one of these moods, I often resort to less efficient means of communication, like hand-writing, and calling friends when I could have text messaged. What did the seventy-five year old do, who always physically "called" upon her neighbor, and now could merely pick up the handset and say hello? Didn't she, before even thinking of picking up the handset, grab her coat and open the front door? Did her neighbor get angry if she still dropped in? "Sorry Agnes, I forgot. I'll use the telephone next time." And here I am in 2011, "sorry Mary, I forgot. I'll text message next time."
Habits are funny things - you don't know how ingrained they are until you have to do something different. The 3D movie showed me that my habits may be more ingrained than I previously thought. I have found myself saying "that 3D thing will never catch on, who needs this?" when actually, it's pretty cool. Until I actually experienced 3D, my habits and thoughts would never have accepted its possibilities. I was closed off and completely oblivious to the world changing around me, until it had changed so dramatically that I could hardly believe it was real.
I feel lucky to have experienced life before the year 2000. I feel connected to the past, the way things used to be. But I also realize my knowledge of the past is a hindrance, something I need to keep as a happy memory but need to let go when learning to accept change. But there's only so much I can accept. All I know is, even though my bookshelves are overflowing with paperbacks, I'm not quite ready to buy that kindle just yet.
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