I was really interested in Ch. 6 of Ambient Findability this week when the author talked about the beginning of the internet. It's hard for me to imagine a time when only a small group of people were interested in the online world, but it makes complete sense. I mean, if someone approached me and asked, "What would you say if I told you there was a database where you can find virtually any answer that you've ever needed?" I would think it was a complete farce!
I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like without the internet. Although I didn't really use it until the end of my middle school years, I always have had access to it. If I think back hard enough I can remember when we actually had to "dial up" to be online, and you couldn't use your phone at the same time you were online. When I think of times like that and then look at my young cousins who use the internet like its nothing, I can't help but feel a little old. How cool is it that we were part of a generation that saw the beginning of the popularity of the world wide web?! Our kids will be reading about this stuff in history books.
All of the readings we have done have allowed me to have a more accepting mentality of the internet. I adamantly insist that I am technologically disadvantaged, but I know that that's not true. I mean, I can use my smart phone (well, kind of) and I can find what I need to on the internet most of the time. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like if you moved to America from a third-world country. What would they think about a culture that is so interconnected that it could be a concern? How long would it take an adult to completely learn how to use these technologies? Sometimes I take being raised in such a technology savvy for granted, but to an extent, we all are guilty of that.
I'm 23 years old, and I also feel the same way about the onslaught of Internet popularity! I can recall the days when I would sit on AIM messenger and my parents yelling at me to disconnect because they needed to make a phone call. It took almost 5 minutes for a page to load on my old dial-up. I don't know how I lived with that!
ReplyDeleteI also try to imagine my life before I had a cell phone. I was 14 when I got my first cell phone (a box-shaped device that had a battery life of 10 minutes), but sometimes I can't fathom what it was like before. It's amazing to see how much technology changes your lifestyle!
I had to think back and remember but I do remember having to wait for about 10 minutes...at least for me...for the internet connection to work, for dial-up. I also remember asking my mom all the time to get on because if she needed the phone there was no way I could get on the internet. It seems so long ago that that was how it was. I agree, it does make you seem old knowing that kids now a days have games online that they play to keep them entertained instead of sitting in front of the television watching the cartoons that came on after school.
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