How did it feel?

ScumLord

To be there when the world changed, to be a pioneer of a new era? The last 20 years will be in the history books as the dawn of the digital age and a brave new era in the human storey.

I'm turning 30 this month and since 1980 the world has changed, the most advanced piece of technology in our house when I was a child was a colour tv (my gran still had a black and white one). I remember getting our first tv with a remote. I remember seeing my first computer the BBC micro and it was a stand alone tool with no application outside of the office.

The only foreign person I'd met was my cousins from the UK and US who'd bring us home wonders from the new world and I still remember talking to my first black man at around 14 or 15 and being slightly star struck because the only place I'd seen black people up until then was on TV (he worked in the shop and all I said to him was thanks).

These days I can find a hundred opinions from anywhere in the world instantly. I have the wealth of human knowledge at my fingertips.

I've travelled as much as my parents even though I'm half they're age.

I may not have touched a computer till I was 8 but my nephew had a mouse in his hand at 1 and knew what he was doing by the age of 3.


I found the whole process very entertaining but looking back on it, it wasn't the earth shattering experience that I'd expect an era change to be, although maybe we haven't seen the full effect of the change yet. The technology is only filtering down to the poorer places now but it's shocking how quickly everyone switched over to computers. People I'd never expect to see near a computer all see them as vital now.


TL,DR version: Do you feel like your living in a different world now that everyone uses computers and did the chance make you feel dirty and used?

Agent Smith

I feel dirty and used, but i wouldnt entirely blame computers on that.


I Blame Overheal

InkSlinger67

We're not really that advanced if ya think about it - only the other day my computer struggled so much while opening Notepad it actually burst into flames - not so different from my old Atari 800XL back in '89

jimmycrackcorm

My world changed when I stopped having to use punch cards to post messages on boards. Revolutionary.

Sofa King Great

bonerm

ScumLord wrote: »

I've travelled as much as my parents even though I'm half they're age.

TL,DR version: Do you feel like your living in a different world now that everyone uses computers and did the chance make you feel dirty and used?

Yes we've come along way. Thirty years ago people used words like "their" but now you can form words and sentences almost any way you like.

Also "TL,DR" didn't exist as people used to have attention spans.

Ah, progress! But at what price?

(not a personal attack)

Four-Percent

Sofa King Great wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9oq_IskRIg

There you go

galwayrush

Lots of changes indeed, but my biggest wake up call was discovering my first grey pube. Wake me up it sure did, wife found it while i was asleep and plucked it.:(

Captain Darling

Ah the time they got rid of the ha'penny.

Fond memories.

bonerm

galwayrush wrote: »

Lots of changes indeed, but my biggest wake up call was discovering my first grey pube. Wake me up it sure did, wife found it while i was asleep and plucked it.:(

On the plus-side at least you discovered it on your body and not on the bedsheets.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Nice post!

The comment above about tl;dr is true in my case anyway, my attention span is shot and I'm not finding it as easy to read a novel any more, I find myself scanning the page and I really have to force myself to slow down and enjoy it!

But I do think the world has changed a lot information wise, there isn't much that would shock now or that you couldn't verify in a matter of minutes.

I can imagine children now, who naturally wonder about everything, there's probably no such thing as going to an adult with a question, they're just gonna google it. Maybe mammy & daddy aren't going to seem like the omniscient force they once were.

And regarding education, and this is relevant to grade inflation also, its so bloody easy to research things. And obviously you dont take wiki as gospel, but it is often a good starting point, and google will always find some good journal articles which can be referenced.
I can't imagine what college would have been like without the net, sure you'd be ages looking for books and there'd never be enough to go around! (and you'd probably hide them on your 'competitors' anyway)

Computers are absolutely vital now, as OP said people you would never have expected see them as vital.
Not too sure what OP meant about feelling dirty and used, or that it hasn't been earth shattering.
Things are seldom every earth shattering due to peoples apathy imo, people just get on with their usual thing and as you can't stop progress new technologies become incorporated into their routines

Pittens

I'm turning 30 this month and since 1980 the world has changed, the most advanced piece of technology in our house when I was a child was a colour tv (my gran still had a black and white one). I remember getting our first tv with a remote. I remember seeing my first computer the BBC micro and it was a stand alone tool with no application outside of the offic

1'm 34. I am here to tell you that there was bog all changes in my life - with the exception of the internet, and mobile phones - compared to the incredible changes in my parents life from their childhood to my age now.( Which was the Eighties, as it happens).

Growing up in the eighties, and early ninties, the house had.

A VCR.
Two tvs, both colour.
A fridge.
A computer.
A games machine.
A walkman.
A car that went places.
A washing machine.
A dishwasher.
A soda stream.
A few radios.
Landline Phone

They grew up without even a fridge, and certainly not TV or the other stuff.

When I go back to my parents house now they have.

A VCR. DVD
Two tvs, both colour. One LCD.
A fridge.
A computer. But better.
A games machine. ( well, no, but they could have. It would be better).
A walkman.
A car that goes places.
A washing machine.
A dishwasher.
A soda stream.
A few radios.
Landline Phone
Two mobiles.


we werent rich, either. Teachers. Comfortable enough, I suppose.

Anyway, compare the chages in their lives. The idea that technology is accelerating is nonsense, where my bloody moonbase?

Or look at Back to the Future. He goes ahead to 2013. They really expected more by now.

Pittens

And although the internet is a big change, it really was around then too. Just not so widely used.

galwayrush

Pittens wrote: »

And although the internet is a big change, it really was around then too. Just not so widely used.

Bloody hell, how old are you?:p It sure wasn't around when i was young. I remember computer lesson in school was 4 half hour lessons learning to add 10 and 10 using Basic.:o

dr.bollocko

galwayrush wrote: »

Lots of changes indeed, but my biggest wake up call was discovering my first grey pube. Wake me up it sure did, wife found it while i was asleep and plucked it.:(

Why was your wife checking your pubes while you were asleep?!

...


I don't like how advertising is just everywhere now. Not just online either. And Irish people have become more vapid.

Darn tootin'.

Pittens

It sure wasn't around when i was young. I remember computer lesson in school was 4 half hour lessons learning to add 10 and 10 using Basic

I gave my age. 34. It was around but not widely used. Look it up.

That said the ubiquitousness of the internet is a revolutionary change. An ipod is evolutionary, as it really does what the walkman did but better.

Also we cant fly faster than sound anymore.

Wheres my moonbase? Where's Hal? Wheres the robots? Wheres the flying cars?

galwayrush

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Why was your wife checking your pubes while you were asleep?!

...



.

She was looking for more action after i unusually fell asleep after a 5 minute marathon session.:D

Ozzy

It probably feels like it did when cavemen discovered fire, or when that guy Isaac Norton discovered electricity, or Bear Grylls discovered you could drink your own urine from a snakeskin, like a coolpop.

In a word... 'grand'.

ScumLord

Pittens wrote: »

1'm 34. I am here to tell you that there was bog all changes in my life - with the exception of the internet, and mobile phones - compared to the incredible changes in my parents life from their childhood to my age now.( Which was the Eighties, as it happens).

Growing up in the eighties, and early ninties, the house had.

A VCR.
Two tvs, both colour.
A fridge.
A computer.
A games machine.
A walkman.
A car that went places.
A washing machine.
A dishwasher.
A soda stream.
A few radios.
Landline Phone

They grew up without even a fridge, and certainly not TV or the other stuff.

When I go back to my parents house now they have.

A VCR. DVD
Two tvs, both colour. One LCD.
A fridge.
A computer. But better.
A games machine. ( well, no, but they could have. It would be better).
A walkman.
A car that goes places.
A washing machine.
A dishwasher.
A soda stream.
A few radios.
Landline Phone
Two mobiles.


we werent rich, either. Teachers. Comfortable enough, I suppose.

Anyway, compare the chages in their lives. The idea that technology is accelerating is nonsense, where my bloody moonbase?

Or look at Back to the Future. He goes ahead to 2013. They really expected more by now.

I suppose we where dirt poor country folk in the 80s, we had fup all.

Pittens wrote: »

And although the internet is a big change, it really was around then too. Just not so widely used.

The internet and computers where around but not in the same way they are now, it wasn't open to the general public and it wasn't user friendly. It's only in the last 10 years or so that it's become mainstream.

It has changed hugely since I started using it first. It's now taking over from all forms of communication and media. It's shown that open source can compete with big business, it's shown up allot of the flaws in our monetary system. It's changed the way business is done, again you could say as businesses allowed the computer to develop and move into the consumer market.

bonerm

Pittens wrote: »

Or look at Back to the Future. He goes ahead to 2013. They really expected more by now.

I don't think they were attempting to create an accurate/serious prediction of what 2015 (sorry had to check you on that one! ) would be like. They just wanted to fill the scenes up with with futuristic stuff that viewers of 1989 would find quirky and humourous.

If anything it a nice coincidence that any of it came true at all eg multi-screen tv displays and thumb-print doorkeys.

ejmaztec

The good old pre-internet days, when only a handful of people called me a twat. Now twats have gone global.:(

bonerm

ejmaztec wrote: »

The good old pre-internet days, when only a handful of people called me a twat. Now twats have gone global.:(

twit!

ejmaztec

bonerm wrote: »

twit!

Yeh, they even know me in New Zealand.:(

Pittens

sorry had to check you on that one!

touché

/ knew I should checked that one.

In terms of relative speed of change we aren't at the races compared to people who grew up in England or Ireland prior to the railways, and then lived to see the railways come into their villages, or towns.

On a tour of Bristol recently, they said that the journey to London used to take a week. And was expensive, even if you sat outside ( as some people had to). You needed to book accommodation along the way, of course, or it was included in the cost. Anyway, it was expensive, dangerous, tiring, and took a long time. So you didn't do it often. It was almost like emigrating. Of course people migrated to London all the time, they just often never came back.

( This was a horse and coach arrangement, the rich and/or talented horseman could do it quicker with a few changes of horses but few were rich, or so good).

Along comes the railway and you get to London in 4 hours. A day trip if you are happy to rise early.

What would be the equivalent today? Well the time taken to Australia is, what, about 24-30 hours. Starting from Dublin...

So lets say a faster cheaper form of transport which takes an hour. Day trip to sydney. Or a morning meeting, lunch at home in Dublin.

That's the equivalent of the kind of change they saw.

bonerm

Pittens wrote: »

What would be the equivalent today? Well the time taken to Australia is, what, about 24-30 hours. Starting from Dublin...

So lets say a faster cheaper form of transport which takes an hour. Day trip to sydney. Or a morning meeting, lunch at home in Dublin.

I'm looking forward to it! As (I'm sure) is anyone who's made that trip. It's (literally) a pain in the arse.

Misty Chaos

Nothing has really changed since I was a child, things have just gotten better.

*I haven't seen a dramatic change in the design of cars.
*Nor a really dramatic change in the design of houses ( If anything, they've gotten worse! )
*We still have home video,well as DVDs and Blu-Rays.
*The Ipod has replaced the Walkman as the portable music player of choice.
*Pirating at a personal level once involved recording tapes either from the radio or using a music centre to copy a CD. Now, you can just go online and download what you wish.

Thats all I can think of. I wonder what we'll be saying to our grandkids when we're older?

' Back in my day, we had these funny things called hard drives in computers and things weren't stored in a cloud. Toasters didn't have Wi-fi and porn was in 2D. '

banquo

galwayrush wrote: »

Lots of changes indeed, but my biggest wake up call was discovering my first grey pube. Wake me up it sure did, wife found it while i was asleep and plucked it.:(

I think I'm going out with your wife.

candlegrease

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUMf7FWGdCw

bonerm

Back in the day a new episode of the A-team was a genuine highlight of the week for a little kid.

Nowadays I feel sometimes like I'm working a second job just trying to get thru all my American cousins video tapes that he sends me via post. Too much data out there and too easy to obtain! :eek:

fuelinjection

Best invention ever = smilies ... :rolleyes: :mad: :eek: :cool: :P

In fact by the year 2070, we will no longer use speech and just twitter each other our smilie-emotions. Along with occasional pictures of cats saying cute things like "I can haz cheezburger ??"

LD 50

Misty Choas wrote: »

I wonder what we'll be saying to our grandkids when we're older?

' Back in my day, we had these funny things called hard drives in computers and things weren't stored in a cloud. Toasters didn't have Wi-fi and porn was in 2D. '

Now that you mention it, the porn industry has majorly taken off in this age. Before, it was mostly cheesy full length films. Now it's moved away from that into more amatuer stuff that can still look professional. Distribution has expanded. Instead of having to buy films through shady catalogs, you can now watch them instantly on your pc.
There's also machines that can mimic the feel and movements of the action on screen.

ScumLord

Misty Choas wrote: »

Nothing has really changed since I was a child, things have just gotten better.

*I haven't seen a dramatic change in the design of cars.

Maybe you can't see the difference but there is a drastic difference between a car now and a car from 20 years ago. Electronics and safety being the major ones. Plus we now have hybrid cars. On the surface they look fairly similar but under the skin they're very different.

*Nor a really dramatic change in the design of houses ( If anything, they've gotten worse! )

I've lived in a 150 year old house, there are major differences. Again, the shell isn't uniquely different it's still basically a box and that will never change but the technology inside has changed. Double glazed windows being a huge difference.

*We still have home video,well as DVDs and Blu-Rays.

Already verging on obsolete.

People are very different IMO, the world did change we just didn't take much notice.

Pittens

On the surface they look fairly similar but under the skin they're very different.

They don't fly.

candlegrease

embedding fail...thanks sharpshooter

Pittens

Also, where is HAL 9000? Where is my robot butler? My hoverboard? My flights to the moon hotel?

People are very different IMO, the world did change we just didn't take much notice.

It changed. Just not as much as you claimed at the outset.



And yes, I am an embittered futurist.

Pittens

Also clones. Where are they.

9 years until the scenes depicted in Blade Runner.

bonzodog2

That'd be replicants

ScumLord

Pittens wrote: »

Also clones. Where are they.

9 years until the scenes depicted in Blade Runner.

Cloning's illegal not impossible.

Jumpy

[bitter]I remember back in the day when PC games had dedicated servers.[/bitter]

Mike 1972

Pittens wrote: »

Also we cant fly faster than sound anymore.

What exactly do you mean by "we" ?

If you mean the human race collectively "we" still can. Military jets and space rockets do it all the time.

If you mean the average person on the street "we" never could. Concorde was always the preserve of the well healed.

Duggy747

I think the Big Brother reality show will be seen as a pinnacle point in mankind in hundreds of years when the brain became stupider.

That or those apes will rise up and claim the planet anytime soon

Pittens

If you mean the average person on the street "we" never could. Concorde was always the preserve of the well healed.

If it were all progress then it wouldn't have stayed the preserve of the rich. Just as flying, in general, hasn't.

ScumLord

The Concorde was an amazing feet of human engineering, something that should not be really. It was like a bus made by Ferrari. Cool but very impractical.

With that plane your confined by the laws of physics it just pushed the boundary's that little bit to far. It's problem being it flew too low, we can get over many of the problems that plane faced by going higher.

filthymcnasty

going by thread title was sure this was about 1st time ya got laid. for me so so

Dudess

I was hoping 2010 would be a lot more sci fi tbh... :mad: