Generations,Technology, and Me

  For this assignment I will be conducting 3 separate interviews from different generations just to see how far and how relevant technology has become over the years. Along with that I will get insight on how people from different generations have dealt with/adapted to the now fast changing technology.   I will also try to track how many hours during a day is shared with some sort of technology. I’m sure to reveal things we tend to disregard simply because we are so used to some things that it no longer stands out to us. Here is just a few things I think we disregard lights, handicap entrance on doors, elevators, car alarms and so much more. As we gain information I’m almost sure you will be shocked at the growth and just how predominate technology has become.

Washboard

    The first interview I conducted was with my grandmother who was born over 60years ago in 1931. She spent time discussing how things were in the 40's and 50s what a different day and age it was. There was no line of communication besides a land line which at the time was not cordless and it also had no 3-way calling caller ID or anything. She also said for a good part of her childhood there was no television at all until her teens at some point came a television but with no color and limited stations. One thing that stood out the most to me was she had no washer machine for most of her childhood. They washed clothes on a wash board and they hung them outside to dry, she said "It was very hard on your arms and back". She also added that the stove was a wood burning stove. Meaning you had to get fire wood and put it inside of a compartment under the oven and light the wood on fire to heat the stove. That sounds a bit extreme but I'm sure it makes it a lot easier to appreciate the modern day stove. Last but not least the iron had to be heated on the stove before you could use it to press/iron your clothes.

     To conclude this interview with my grandmother I asked her a couple more questions. The first question was How did she adapt/embrace the growth of technology? she responded saying " It was difficult at first learning to operate and adjust but after getting used to it she couldn't picture life without it". The second question was what piece of technology could she do without? her answer was "Nothing". She made that clear that coming from an age where everything require so much labor she loved every bit of technology until this day she even has a smart phone and a tablet at 80+ years old. So I think its safe to say technology plays a huge part in her life at this point.

Beeper

     The second interview I chose to interview my mother. She was born in the 1960s so her insight would come from the 70s and the 80s. I’m sure you will notice during this interview that she was able to get a little more detailed than the first interview. I think it happened that way because she experienced more technology from the start but you can be the judge. During her time period there was no computers initially they only had type writers. Which may sound just as convenient but you could not make a single mistake with out having to restart there was no delete button. Also during her time growing up there was a burst of technology with a "beeper". She said when she got her a beeper it meant the world to her. It finally gave people a way to contact you anywhere you were. The only downside was you had to then find a pay phone or a location with a phone to actually be able to talk to the person who was trying to get in touch with you (cells phones weren't as common until later on). Then I went on to ask a few specific questions like what piece of technology did she resist initially? Her answer was smartphones after having a beeper and a "standard" cell phone she thought it would be hard to adapt to a touch screen/high tech cellular device. Eventually she made the switch but it took some time. I went on to ask her what piece of technology amazed her? She thought and said she was very amazed by the automatic start button on certain cars. She thought that the whole concept was great for reasons like not having to sit in a freezing cold car or extremely hot car, allowing your engine to warm up before you drove off etc. Last I asked her was there anything she didn't like and she said yes " That damn Automated phone service" I laughed and asked why she said because it takes too long and the automated machine can't always answer the questions you have so then you still have to talk to a "human "so it just waste even more time.

Nintendo

     After that interview I had to do one more. That last interview would be myself and while I could probably give even more details it was even harder because I was born into a lot of technology. I was born in the 90s so my time frame will be late 90s and 2000s. The first thing I thought about was a Nintendo that had to be the 1st game I played and loved as a kid. After that it was a new gaming system every other year. Another thing I remember was a walkie-talkie me and my friends all had them before we could get cellular phones. Once we got cell phones they went out of style for us. The first cell phone I had was pretty basic and had one good game called snake on it. Looking back now that phone was pretty bad compared to my current phone which is a smart phone (iPhone 5). The smart phone itself had to be the major piece of technology of my era. The power of finding out any information is in the palm of my hands what a great

Iphone5

invention except when its freezing or malfunctioning then it can be a problem but overall sad to say I don't know what I would do without it now. I don't think I ever resisted technology because it was something I grew up with yes things got better but it was never hard to adjust from one gadget to the next. I don't think there is anything I can do without I'm so used to technology I couldn't really picture things being gone. After interviewing myself I really noticed how much of a part technology has played throughout my entire life. At every age I can remember throughout my life there was some kind of new device of some sort being made pretty cool.

     After doing the three interviews I realized how far technology has come and how much it is used in everyday life. Now days we spend at least 12hrs a day using some type of technology. Whether it be on the tablet/computer, cell phone, watching tv, listening to music, using self checkout, being awaken by an alarm clock etc. Its not many moments at all that we are not using technology outside when we are sleeping. Another thing I noticed was while we all could think of some type of technology that we love but none of us really talked about thing we encounter everyday like red light cameras, automatic doors, projector screens in class rooms, online banking/ bill paying, motion censored alarm systems, etc. That leads me to believe that technology plays such a huge part now days that its easy to over look something’s almost as if its suppose to be that way we will notice a new phone but not a new auto paper towel dispenser. Which also says technology is everywhere in many shapes and forms and we rely on it for almost everything so if technology was to disappear the world would never be the same. 

I hope this blog left you thinking about not only how far technology has come but how much further will technology go?