Technology throughout my life

It is funny to think how much has changed with technology since I was a kid.  When I was a kid we had a TV with a turn dial to change the channel.  My father was the first remote we had, or should I say my mother had.  My mother liked to watch two different soap operas that overlapped by a half hour.  My father, who worked from home at the time, took his lunch at the time the two shows overlapped and he changed the channel during commercials for my mother. However, my father did not do the same for any of us three children.  The first "remote" we had was a box with two rows of buttons that you had to push to change channels.  They would make a clicking sound when you changed the channel.  I also remember having a rotary phone and only one phone for the family.   

When I was about 9-10 years old our family got our first computer.  It was an Apple IIe.  In fifth grade I had trouble in school and later found out that I have a learning disability.  I was able to use the computer and the word processing program to write any reports that I needed to do beginning at that point.  It was a tremendous help to me and I am forever grateful!

I remember the first time we went to my Aunt's house and she had bought a computer.  This computer had a hard drive, which was a foreign concept for me.  Our computer needed a floppy disk to be inserted in order to do anything on it.  My Aunt's computer, you could just turn on and there were programs already there and you could save things to the hard drive and not need a floppy disk.  This BLEW my mind!!! 

When I was in high school, my family upgraded our Apple IIe computer to Dell computer.  At that time we also got the internet, dial up.  I didn't have my first email address until I was a freshman in college.  When I went to college I got an Apple laptop to bring and do my assignments on.  My step-mother thought I would be able to bring it to class and take notes on, however it never felt comfortable to take notes directly onto the computer.  My laptop however did not have any internet, it was a glorified word processor with a couple of primitive games.  I used the same computer throughout my four years of school.  When I was living with my husband we bought our first personal computer together.  I felt as if I had made it and I was truly an adult.  At that time the internet had become much bigger and continued to do so.  

All throughout my elementary, middle and high school career, I can't remember working on a computer in school.  Except for the one typing class that I had to take my senior year of high school.  I have been a self taught or ask my husband kind of learner with the computer.  In the classroom I was a long term substitute in for 7 months, I had a SmartBoard.  I received a very general overview of how to use the board.  Again, I am self taught with how and when to use the board.   

Today we have a Mac desktop, a wireless printer/scanner, an iPhone, three iTouches, a portable and a regular DVD player, three TV's, and a wii.  Everywhere you look in our house there are elements of technology.  Technology has changed so much in my lifetime and even within the last 10 years.  It boggles my mind to think of where we might be in another 10 years.