Technology

I was waiting impatiently behind an older gentleman attempting to purchase gas the other day when it occurred to me that he was stymied by the technology at the pump. My impatience turned to sympathy as I realized that he had probably lived through technology changes at the pump in his life. I am not sure what year gas pumps were invented, but maybe he saw the first ones. Now here he was, inserting plastic money, reading a digital reader, and trying to select the right type of gas.

A few minutes later, I was behind him again as he was attempting to program the car wash. After many attempts, he got it right and then pulled too fast into the automatic car wash. Rick made a comment about the man not wanting to get the underside washed because he zipped right past it. A few seconds later, I heard a car horn. Then another few seconds, the horn sounded again and again. Then the horn just kept sounding. A person that was right behind the old man got out of her car and went for help. The old man had somehow managed to get his vehicle stuck inside the car wash. After several failed attempts to get him to back up, the clerk had the old man pull through and start the car wash all over. The electronic parts of the car wash had defeated the old man. I am just glad that he didn't get hurt or hurt anyone else.

Technology can be great and then it can be frustrating. I used to laugh at my mother because she could never figure out how to program a VCR (Video Cassette Recorder). Now we have DVR (Digital Video Recorder) but I can still program it. The one piece of technology that sometimes frustrates me is the cellular phone. When I got my Blackberry a year ago, it took me a long time to figure out how to work the speakerphone. Then the ringer profiles had me pulling my hair out until I read the "Dummy Guide".  I don't even bother learning anything with my work cell phone, it rings, I answer it. Simple!

I can't be blamed though because when I was growing up, we had phones that were attached to the wall or sat on a counter in your house. If you were not at home and had to use the phone, you looked for a pay phone. There wasn't a whole lot of programming to do, in fact there wasn't any with the old dial phones. Dialing a 9 was the best because to dial a 9, you had to swing the dial all the way around and then you would hear the little tones while the dial rotated back around, 9 tones for the number 9! How cool was that?

Phones are not the only changes, music came on records! An album was played on a record player at 33 rpm and a single song was played on a 45, a smaller record played at 45 rpm. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, music moved to tape technology, first in the 8 track version, and then a cassette. Neither one of these mediums would last very long and often the tapes would break. Thankfully, music moved to CD which is a great improvement. Records were scratchy and tapes were frail, but CD technology really allows you to hear the music and words clearly. However, CD technology may be on the decline as many people just download individual songs to their phones, computers, or ipods.

I don't think my grandchildren will ever know what a record is. By the time they are old enough to listen to music of their choice, digital technology will probably be something a lot different than what it is today. Either way, I look forward to them laughing at me for not understanding their technology.