Times Have Changed

I knew that my children's childhood would be different than mine. This morning it hit me just how different their childhood is going to be when the repairman at our home asked me for a phone book. As I left the room to get it, I heard my child ask him, "What's a phone book?" I guess she's never seen one before. If her dad or I need a phone number, we grab a smart phone or look it up online.
I've tried to explain to them before that when I was really small, there were only three channels. I can remember when we got cable. There were commercials, and you couldn't fast forward them. If you went to the bathroom and missed the most pivotal moment in "Days of Our Lives," you just missed it! (On a side note, I swear you can watch that show once every five years and totally keep up with what's going on. I knew Will Brady was gay before he did. And talk about some well-preserved people. Wow! I don't know if they have a makeup artist or a mortician on staff at that show!)
I remember when we got a VCR. Very few people actually knew how to program them, and if you did figure out how to set it and then forgot to leave the TV on the right channel, you STILL didn't get what you wanted! But hey, at the time that technology was freakin' amazing! Video cassette rental stores popped up on every corner, and you had better rewind that sucker before you took it back OR ELSE! It seemed like the new releases were never in stock, and you could even get a reduced price if you would agree to bring them back the next day.
I can vividly recall the first cell phone I ever saw. Anyone else remember the giant phone purses? It was the latest, greatest thing...if you were willing to carry a small duffel bag everywhere you went, and you happened to be close enough to one of the two cell phone towers in the state, there was a possibility you could make a call. My dad had one for work, which was considered a huge step up from the lowly pager. Over the years, the bag and the phone got smaller, and before long you could plug the phone into your car. That opened up a whole new world of possibilities! Incidentally, I also remember the first hardwired phone I ever saw in a car. My dad looked at a BMW with a phone...which was basically a house phone, curly cord and all!
Then there was the first cordless cell phone, a giant brick-like thing that got so hot you couldn't hold it after a few minutes. Many models later, when the first flip phones hit the market, we really did think we'd made it onto Star Trek! Now my phone does so much, I really don't think they should even call them phones. They're just computers that can make calls. And I love mine. Apparently I talk on it often, as my baby will now hold any object up to her head and walk through the house yelling, "Hello!"
The invention of cell phones also brought about the phenomenon of cell phone manners (or lack thereof.) When reception used to be really horrible, many people were convinced that if they simply talked LOUDER, the person on the other end could miraculously hear them. Always reminded me of a tin can telephone. Now they're even talking about letting people use cell phones during flights, which I think is a horrible idea. Can you imagine the racket in an area that small if everyone's on their phone having a different conversation? Then I really am going to have to get some of those sound proofing headphones. Oh, who am I kidding? Like I'm going to be flying anywhere any time soon! Bahahaha.
Anytime I start pondering on how much things have changed since I was a kid, I sit down and have a conversation with my 84 year old mother-in-law. Now SHE remembers when times were different! I mean really, we've got everything now but the hover boards and flying cars from "Back to the Future," and those can't be far behind. Then I can really make myself sound old. "I remember when cars didn't fly and smart phones only did 50 things instead of 500!" Yes, indeed, times have changed!