So, as I sit here in 2007 with a computer on my lap, blogging, the obvious comes to mind. I am 35 years old. I first took typing from Ms. Reinhart in 9th grade. That was in 1987 when big hair, big earrings and two pairs of socks at once was cool. The same year I took typing class on a typewriter I took a computer class. The screen was dark brown with an orange cursor in the top left corner. We would type in programs and suddenly hearts or other shapes would come onto the screen. When we hit 'print' it meant going to the printer and physically ripping off the edges of feed paper as well as tearing each page from the next. The remainder of my high school years I typed my papers on a typewriter. I used something called "White Out".
Fast forward to 1990 when I headed off to college. I typed my papers on word processors. These were essentially fancy typewriters. There was one girl on my floor of 30 women that had an Apple computer. Once in a while I typed a paper on that, but she had homework to do, too. I did research for my papers in actual books from the library. (Thankfully books still exist...) I studied at the library where the only computers were for finding books. Thankfully I got married to a computer guy in 1993 and was able to type my senior thesis on a computer that came in 3 gigantic boxes that resembled Holstein cows...I graduated undergrad in 1994. The Internet was a rumor. Fast computers were the size of basements in large buildings.
Somehow I have existed for the last 20 years with taking one computer class...
My kid is 5. She can click and drag. She knows what a laptop is. She uses the finger mouse pad. At what age do kids learn keyboards these days?
(I didn't say I was 'old', I just said I was 'dated', mind you...)
Oh my goodness! What a trip back in time. I was strictly typewriters, and then those "word processors" until college when I met my future hubby. He was a computer nut (still is).
ReplyDeleteI actually have been teaching our four-year-old son how to use the mouse so he's ready for school if I don't continue homeschooling next year. Weird.
I'm with ya - my 3 yr old can turn the computer on by himself and start his own games!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it weird? I remember when the answering machine was the technology of the day. I was in college then... and the telephone was still connected to the wall with a cord.
ReplyDeleteI forgot all about the old printers!
Hey, I can "outdate" you all. When I was in grad school in 1970, the computer was a huge thing in a building all its own. We brought boxes of data cards that we turned in to the computer center and came back the next day to get our printed results.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Old Codger Milt
I'm with you! I, too am 35, with a 4 year old who was using a computer by the time she was three. It is apparently something they "experimented" with at her daycare. Now she is pretty proficient with it. It is pretty unnerving when your pre-schooler can beat you at a point and click game!
ReplyDeleteWhat a trip down memory lane. I too remember taking typing in high school and our computer time. My daughter is in kindergarten and they have a computer class and have computer time everyday. She knows what she is doing on the computer. It is odd how technology changes with the times and our children are better at it then we are!
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