Change of Life

No, I am not going through male menopause, or if so, this has nothing to do with that matter. It deals more with the way the world has changed over my half decade plus of life, thus far. When I was just a tad, we had a B&W TV with only two channels. In Abilene (Texas USA), one of the channels was the NBC affiliate and the other showed either the ABC show or the CBS show, depending on the preference of their program director. Color TVs did exist at the time, but it was a few years before my dad's income increased to the point that we could afford one. I suppose that fact is one of the reasons I have never grown tired of B&W television programs and movies. I never dreamed, however, that a day would come when I would have access to over 600 channels, record almost anything off of any of them for later playback, rent or purchase almost any movie and a lot of good TV series, and be able to stream shows right off the internet onto my screen. This is only the tip, however, of the iceberg of media that has come about.

Take something as simple as the telephone. I thought the advent of being able to own your own phone instead of renting the base black model that was supplied by THE phone company was going too far. I mean it was just a way to call and receive calls ... what difference did it make if it was a princess model or Mickey Mouse. Then came the answering machine ... and you knew often of who had called while you were away and less often, why they had called. And, after awhile, you got a pager, so people could interrupt your day with requests for communication. Whoo hoo, and all you had to do was find the nearest phone booth and hope you had a dime. In the eighties, I actually knew a person or two who had a cellular phone ... a giant monstrosity that looked like the old walkie-talkie units we used in the Army the previous decade. I finally got one in the mid-nineties and now have a two generation old iPhone that bombards me with email, text messages, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and a myriad of other sorts of communication all day long. It simply boggles my mind that I am so overwhelmed with information on something I can carry in my pocket. I have done Facetime with my nephew and was impressed with the capabilities of that function. None of my friends seem to agree with my assessment that it will not be too far into the future that actually going to court and visiting with clients will be done in person, but will likely be done via some electronic means from the comfort of your own home, fishing boat or golf course.

Then comes my vision of the day without DWIs. Seriously, folks, I actually envision a day in the not too distant future whereby it will make no difference if you are falling down drunk ... you'll always make it home safely, as all cars will be guided by GPS and satellites (if cars still exist at all) and all you'll have to do is be able to instruct the guidance system to take you home. You are then free to pass out, if you should so be inclined.

I won't bore you with microwave ovens, calculators, PCs and the advent and growth of the internet, and the many other things that have been invented, created or whatever to make us fat and lazy. (I did foray into gaming systems but find I am overwhelmed with the number of games that are available via internet so will make no further mention of the development of such from the Atari console to the xBox and Wii systems of today.)