A lot has changed in my lifetime

I can only imagine what will come.

Jim LaJoie, co-publisher, contributor

Jim LaJoie

I have been on this planet for 66 years.  I know someone in their 20s would see that as being nearly ancient, but that is a speck in time.  Even in my short, unremarkable, time on this planet, however, there have been tremendous changes in the world.

I routinely use products and services now that I would have had difficulty conceiving of when younger.   For instance, there was no internet. When I tell younger people that a strange look comes over their faces, convinced I roamed the earth with dinosaurs.  Yep, that’s right, no internet, no Google, No Amazon, none of that.  

What did we do without the internet if we wanted to know what was going on in the world? We read a newspaper, if we wanted “real-time” information we turned on the radio or waited until the 6 and 11 pm newscasts came on.  Speaking of television, there were no streaming services, no cable television, just three network broadcasts (ABC, NBC, CBS) and a local public broadcast station.  What, only four stations? Yes, limited viewing options made determining what to watch a lot easier.   

If we wanted to do some research, we would either grab an encyclopedia (if we were fortunate enough to have a set) or head off to the library.  If we wanted to purchase something, we went to the store. There was no sitting on your couch, ordering something from Amazon and it be at your door a few hours or days later. How did we keep up with family and friends without Facebook?  We called, wrote a letter or sent a postcard. There was no social media, no texts, no email. I can’t even imagine a younger person trying to write and send a letter (although, to be honest, it has been years since I have).  Would they even know what a stamp is or where to purchase one? 

If we needed to make a phone call?  At home, we used the old rotary-type phone. Not at home? A pay phone or, on highways, one of those callboxes.  Needed to look up a phone number?  We used the thick yellow pages directory that were dropped off every year by the phone company.  Speaking of, I remember when I first had a telephone number under my name and saw it listed in the phonebook: adulthood at arrived!

Had a paper to write for school? You sat down and used a typewriter, cumbersome to use, hefty and not exactly portable. Correcting a mistake was not easy, remember correction tape? Want to insert a paragraph? You had to start all over. There were no computers, no tablets, no smart phones, no word processing applications.  

When I was old enough to drive and unsure of directions to my destination, there was no GPS. I grabbed a map, plotted my course then wrestled with the damn thing trying to get it folded back to its original form in order to get it in the glove compartment.  If you got lost after that? You looked for a friendly soul for directions. 

As a teenager if I grabbed a slice of cold pizza and wanted to heat it up?  That was what the oven was for, there were no microwaves. Until the late 1970s when prices dropped and they became more commercially available. 

There were no smart devices.  The refrigerator only held foods that needed preserving. It didn’t tell you when to change the water filter, didn’t create grocery lists, didn’t read a recipe. Just kept some things cold, some things frozen. That was it. Your thermostat had to be manually changed and set. Your coffee pot had to be turned on when you padded out to the kitchen after waking up.   

If your family ordered dinner from a local or fast-food restaurant there was no Door Dash. When I started to drive, I was the Door Dash. I don’t remember getting paid to do it, either. 

I’m not complaining about any of these.  In fact, I am grateful for all these technological advances. I do at times, however, marvel at all the changes that have happened in my lifetime. Artificial intelligence coupled with robotics will undoubtedly play a revolutionary role in how society looks.

I hope to live several more decades.  In that time I can only imagine what changes will occur. I am eager to see what they are.

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