Last night I was sitting and talking to friend about how the way we “do things” has changed so much in the last 10 years or so. I haven’t sat down and developed the timeline, but those of you who are 30 and above will know exactly what I’m talking about.
12 years ago, once a month, I would collect all the monthly bills that arrived in our mailbox and place them in a manila file folder and wait for payday. I would make that monthly trek to the post office and stand in line and purchase the stamps that I would need to return my payment in my creditors thoughtfully provided envelope. Then, usually on a Sunday evening, when I had nothing better to do with my time, I would carefully organize the bills, set out the stamps and return envelopes, secure my checkbook hoping that I had enough money to cover all the bills that were clamoring for my attention (I still worry about having enough money—that hasn’t changed a bit). I would write the checks, record my account # on the memo portion, and place them carefully in the provided envelope, lick and affix the stamp, and seal the envelope. This process would take me about 90 minutes—I had too many bills. I would then take my ritual walk at 10:00 p.m. to the mailbox on the corner and send my payments off. This was my monthly ritual--for years.
Today the bills are still there and they still clamor for my attention and my hard earned money. But my how life has changed! Last evening I sat at the kitchen table with my wireless cell phone and accessed my bank account and in a matter of seconds paid my Time Warner cable bill. I’m still amazed, in awe … call it what you will, that I can use this small, flat, shiny device that appears to be connected to nothing, to do so many tasks. I can buy a movie ticket, pay bills, send emails, “instant messages’, take pictures and video and post to a social networking page for my friends and family to be able to view instantly. I remember when I was amazed by the Polaroid camera and the instant pictures that it provided! I can now read the latest news and see live video feeds, and can even let you all know what I am doing at that particular moment (I do have some modesty and don’t tell you everything). I don't have to be sitting at my desk at home ... I can even be at the car wash and do all these things.
Wow … I think this must be something like how people felt when they first had a radio in their home. A box with a speaker plugged into the wall and then suddenly you hear FDR’s voice coming from inside giving his famous fireside chats … I don’t think they had Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 at the time. I can imagine a 10-year-old child examining the “box” closely and then begin taking it apart to look for exactly where that voice was coming from.
Human ingenuity is amazing. My grandmother will be 99 years old in April. She was born in 1911, and at that time there were no transcontinental flights, or flights of any kind except by our winged friends with beaks/bills. Just traveling to the neighboring state at that time was a major event that took a week or more. My grandma “saw” the first human flight, and during the 1970’s she boarded a 747 and flew to Rome, Italy. Prior to that she watched man first step foot on the moon (maybe one day we’ll return and go beyond). She saw her grandson, Neal, become fascinated with the first home computers. In the late 1970’s, in my grandma’s basement, Neal was taking apart the “Commodore” and figuring out how it worked. Now, 30 years later after that first home computer, grandma is able to sit down and view what I write here. No need for a stamp and the U.S. Postal Service. —That is obsolete. I’m sure the Postal Service will probably exist for 20 or 30 more years because government responds so slowly to change, but truly they are not really needed any longer.
I am already amazed at the changes I’ve seen during the past 15 years. I eagerly am anticipating the next 15. What changes will I see? Will we have cars that drive themselves? Will we find something that extends life by 50 years? I remember the Jetson’s cartoon—I’m sure it’s still being replayed on some TV stations. So many of things in that cartoon are now a reality. My favorite is the “television phone call.” Jane Jetson has to hold up a cardboard image of herself to hide her “morning face.” Can you say “Skype?”
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