I am not old, but I have seen lots of changes in technology. Most of these changes in technology have been for the better. Here’s just a few of the changes in technology over the years.
Cellphones, iPods and Such
Today, most kids attend elementary school with a cellphone or iPod in hand. Both of these items are definite changes in technology from when I was a kid. I grew up with no cellphone or iPod or anything like that. All we had was a television and a radio.
The rule in most households was that when the street lights came on, then it was time to go home. My parents couldn’t call us on the cellphone and tell us to come home. Those changes in technology didn’t exist.
The telephone has been one of the biggest changes in technology. When telephones first came out, they were usually a 5-party line system. This means that 5 families shared the same phone number. In those days, telephones were only used for emergencies. If little Johnny fell off his bike and got scraped up pretty bad, a call was made to a neighbor to drive Johnny to the doctor’s. My family had only one vehicle and Dad took that to go to work. Most families at that time had just one car.
Today, telephones are used for everything. People make calls from the grocery store, the airport, and the bathrooms. When I grew up, we always had a dime in our pocket for the pay phones.
Televisions and Radios
Most families had a two-way radio in their homes in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The radio was on all the time playing bandstand type music and the news would come on at the top of the hour. I remember we had a very nice Grundig German radio that helped me do my daily chores. This radio was on the kitchen counter and it was the only radio in the house.
Soon, changes in technology allowed for the introduction of television sets. This created quite a buzz! Televisions were small screened, about 13 or 15 inches and they were black-and-white not color. Color television was one of the changes in technology that hadn’t been introduced yet. Television sets were big monsters and took up a lot of space. As with most changes in technology, televisions were expensive and we were one of the last families in the neighborhood to get one. That’s right, I said one. Families had only one television set at that time and so there would be family votes as to which show to watch. The one television set actually made for quality time with family as we watched Red Skeleton, Ed Sullivan, and Howdy Doody together.
Medical Changes in Technology
The medical industry has changed dramatically as a result of the changes in technology. This is a very good thing. Everything used to be done by the skilled hand of a surgeon. There was a lot of exploratory surgeries done on people because MRIs, CT scans, and ultrasound were not available. Some hospitals did have these machines, but not all hospitals could afford them. With these changes in technology, less surgeries are performed and you very rarely hear of someone having exploratory surgery anymore.
Laser surgeries are now quite common where a laser beam is guided by a computer to the exact point that a surgeon wants to work on. This wasn’t heard of in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Because of the medical changes in technology, we are having less surgeries and shorter stays in the hospital. That’s a very good thing and a welcome change.
Medical Research
Medical research has come a long way with the changes in technology. When I was out of high school and working at a decent job, all the offices allowed smoking in the workplace. Every company in the United States allowed smoking at your desk. If you weren’t a smoker, you had to breathe in the second-hand smoke from everyone else.
As medical research explored old and new diseases using the newest changes in technology, they discovered the effects of second-hand smoke on people and the effects cigarettes had on smokers. Soon, companies began implementing new policies of smoking on the even numbered floors in a large building. Then, after awhile, companies began banning smoking in the workplace. Smoking areas were designated outside and some large companies had a smoking room inside for awhile, until that too was banned.
Planes used to allow smoking on flights. The back of the plane was for smokers and the seats had ashtrays in their arm rests. It didn’t matter whether you smoked or not. The plane quickly filled with cigarette smoke and everyone smelled like an ashtray when they landed. The changes in technology that allowed medical research to discover the negative effects smoking has on people, is a good one.
Music
The music industry has had enormous changes in technology since the 1950’s and 1960’s. As a kid, I would go to the local record store to purchase the latest Beatle record for $.84! This was a vinyl record that we played on our record players. We could record songs from our record players onto reel-to-reel monster machines. After that the changes in technology came fast and furious. There were cassettes and eight-track tapes. Eight-track tapes were very popular but short lived. The latest changes in technology include the current CDs which are played by a laser beam. No more scratching the records.
There are many other changes in technology that have occurred over the years. These are just a few that I remember well.
Source: Personal Experience
