I think you could say a majority of living Americans were born after the advent of the Internet. Yesterday afternoon, I found myself thinking about the technology I had when I was a boy. We had a telephone hanging on the kitchen wall, a TV set in the living room, and several radios. An uncle sold televisions, radios, and appliances. It was a big deal to have a radio in my bedroom.
Tech in the Kitchen Impressed a Kid
When I was 15, we got a microwave oven. After seeing how marshmallows and eggs reacted, I settled into using them to reheat spaghetti.
I didn’t use a cellphone until 1989. There was one installed in a work truck I drove, and I was told to use it only when necessary. I generally called the office from a payphone. I bought my first cellphone in 2006, and my first smartphone 12 years ago. My first home computer came in 1998, and was monopolized by my daughter.
There was a post on social media that caught my attention from a state senator from Nampa. She asked if we could return to life with 1990s technology. I believe the simple answer is yes, but it wouldn’t initially be easy. But in a few weeks, we would probably adjust. When I started work as a broadcaster, we had no Internet service. It arrived 10 years later.
I Could Adapt in a Couple of Weeks
It speeds preparation for a talk show, but editing would take about the same amount of time with some of the older technology. I would listen to a closed network feed, and a guy on the other end would give a description of the cuts that followed, and I would dub them to tape.
Younger people would probably have a slightly longer adjustment, but discover there are aspects of human interaction that can be pleasant face-to-face.
The world wouldn’t end unless we lost the technology in a fireball.
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Gallery Credit: Mateo, 103.5 KISS FM