jaydubya’s blog

20 years ago… 1987… the year I was born

Looking for ideas for my next blog entry, I googled “programming now versus 20 years ago”, and this came up #1. This link is to some guy named chefelf’s online journal and contains his thoughts on various topics and the ways they have changed within the last 20 years. Although not particularly well written, the article brings up some good points, and they remind me of instances in my childhood.

Regarding audio recording, tape cassettes were king. I still remember taping the radio onto cassettes through my boom box. I didn’t get my first CD until I was in 5th grade.

Videogames– My aunt had an NES and I thought she was the coolest. I remember going over to her house and playing Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt during the great flood of the Mississippi River in 1993, when my family had to drive to the next town over for clean drinking water.

Telephones– I got my first cellphone my junior year of high school; now I don’t know what I would do without one. I remember going to my Cub Scout leader’s house and seeing a caller ID for the first time. It was a standalone wall-mounted white box about the size of a brick of Ramen noodles.

Movie Rental Places– I used to love to rent VHS tapes from down the road, and I remember watching by first movie in widescreen at home and thinking it was the stupidest thing ever to have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Today, I can’t stand fullscreen and I don’t even own a VHS player.

The world has changed a lot in the last 20 years, especially when it comes to technology.