Generations, Technology, And Me

     Throughout history, technology has impacted every aspect of life. As the world advances so does the life of technology. What we know as the most advance technology today, might be merely average by the time we ourselves are elder. As shown by past generations we know little of what is to come through the technological world. From a horse and buggy to motor running vehicles. Or a pigeon flying to deliver a message to a cell phone where you can text message a person across the globe. Technology is becoming more advance everyday and most of our lives would be extremely altered if we did not have it. 
      I tried to think back to my earliest memory of technology. I was born in the year nineteen ninety six. The one piece of technology that impacted my life during my childhood was portable CD players. I thought it was amazing that I could listen to Hansen and the Backstreet boys through this pink hello kitty player with ear phones attached. As I grew up technology grew up as well. My family finally got this thing in our home called a "desk top computer". It was a huge white computer with a monitor that weighed more than me. I grew to embrace it. I would sit quietly, watching my mom and older sister do so many things on this computer. From Internet searching, to being able to type on it and print out papers. The technological enhancement has never failed to amaze me. There are a few

things that I think our world could do without though. An example would be escalators. I honestly do not understand why people can not just walk up steps. They are not even handicap explicable. They have no purpose but to make us more lazy. Being an Eighteen year old living in the twenty first century, I have many privileges that generations before did not have access to.
     Going off of my last statement "I have many privileges that generations before did not have access to" I figured I would asked my father, grandfather, and younger brother the same questions that I asked my self.
     My father is forty eight years old. I can honestly say that he does not like technology at all. He has all the basic items to get him through the day. My father's cell phone is a basic Nokia flip phone without a camera, he has one television in his home. The only channels he watches is sports, and the channel USA. He also does not know how to use a computer whatsoever. I asked him what one piece of technology impacted his life as a kid, and he answered "when the cable television came out". Before, he was limited to how much cable television he could watch a day due to his mother not wanting him to stay inside all day. I continued to ask him more questions about technology. He said that the Internet scares him to no end. "The Internet is unlimited and anyone can hack into it and see what you're doing ... I just do not understand". The last question I asked my father was "what technology do you think we could do without?" His answer was cell phones. Which I found surprising since he has one himself. To back up his answer he said that he could get a hold of me if he needed me and if someone needed him they could get in contact with him.
     My grandfather, father of my mother, is seventy eight years old. He, unlike my father, is very "tech savvy". He has definitely embraced technology since he was able to have access to it. The one piece of technology that impacted his life was having a land line telephone with his own line. My grandfather was explaining before house phones they had "party lines". Where you had a certain ring for when you were receiving a phone call, and if you answered sometimes your neighbor would be on the phone. He still says to this day he will never understand fax machines. "I think it's amazing that you put a piece of paper inside a machine, and across the world they pick up a phone dial a number and the paper pops out." 
     My younger brother is nine years old, and his name is Liam. He was born in two thousand four so he pretty much grew up with all the newest pieces of technology. Liam is privileged to be able to get whatever he wants since he is basically the only child, and the only one still living at home. I asked him what the one piece of technology impacted his life. He named about twelve different things. I again asked him to narrow it down to one, he said "Well I like my new play station but I also like my new Xbox." His answered made my realize how technologically attached children his age are. He said he does not remember not having any sort of technology. Even in his elementary school they gave each child a new iPod. So even when he goes to school and we think that he is learning, he is able to sit on his iPad without a care in the world.
     Through all the interviews it made my view on technology change. With each person I interviewed being at least about ten years apart made me realize how much technology has grown. From having party line phones to every person having an iPhone or at least some type of portable cell phone. From having this huge box television with only twelve channels and the picture in black and white to a flat screen television in color with over hundreds of channels, some in high definition. It really makes me think what my children are going to have in the future, and if I am going to look back and say "That iPhone five was such a dinosaur of a phone."