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Day 78/365: Technology Questionnaire
A number of people on my list have done this questionnaire and I’ve enjoyed reading their answers, so here are mine.
If you haven't done so yet, I encourage you to answer the questions, either in the comments here or on your own journal, please.
- Did you have a
cellmobile phone prior to your thirties? Did they exist?
Yes, I did. But if you wanna talk old tech, let’s spare a moment to remember pagers. I still remember the excitement of getting a pager, and being able to beep my friends. Persons of a certain age: remember the codes? 911 for “OMGWTFBBQ, call me NOW!”, 411 for “info to share. Also, call me NOW!” Hahaha. - Did you have cable when you were a little kid? When did you first get cable?
No, I didn’t have cable as a child. I don’t think I ever set up a cable television account myself. My flatmates did when I was at university, and I paid my share of the bill. - Do you know what 8-track tapes are and did you ever own an 8-track tape player?
Yes, I know what they are. No, I never owned one. - Did you own cassette tapes and walkman or tape player in high school and
collegeuniversity?
Yes. I remember the thrill of making and receiving mix tapes. It took a lot of effort to make a mix tape. My friends and I used to spend inordinate amounts of time decorating the covers and writing out the track lists for one another.
I still own a mixtape that was given to me by one of my close high school friends. It was called "Superfuzz Bigmix". My friend committed suicide fifteen years ago. I hadn’t spoken to him for years. I will never listen to the mixtape again. I will never throw it away, either. - When did you get your first DVD player?
Er, I’m not sure. My first DVD player was probably integrated with a computer/laptop rather than being a standalone device to be used with a television screen. - Did you learn how to type on a typewriter? Did you own a typewriter growing up?
Yes to both of these. I took a typing course at the local community college when I was in high school, and I can genuinely say that it was one of the best things I did for myself in preparation for academic and working life. My parents bought me a word processor when I was in high school so I could save my work on disks, too. - What was the first computer you owned?
The first computer I ever owned was a Mac.I bought it when I was in grad school. I didn’t own a computer at all when I was at university; I either went to the library to check my e-mail (pine!) or chat (ytalk!), or I typed things out on my word processor. Occasionally I borrowed my flatmates’ computers. Mostly to play Super Pong when I was procrastinating. - What age were you when you first got email?
My first e-mail account was through the university. - What age were you when you first encountered the internet? Was it around when you were a kid?
I first encountered the internet through friends in high school, who were into various BBSs. - What
age were youyear was it when you started using Facebook, Twitter, and Dreamwidth, and Livejournalstarted?
I am getting tired of this “what age were you” business and thus I have altered the question.
Facebook: I joined in 2006, I think? I don’t know why FB doesn’t make this information easy to find. Oh wait, I remember, because FB sucks. I mostly don’t use FB.
Twitter: I joined in December 2007. I stopped using Twitter in July 2017, though I haven’t deleted my account.
Dreamwidth: I joined in April 2009 and still use it every day.
LJ: I joined in July 2001 and still use it every day. Daaaaaang.I do love my journaling community. - What was your first
cellmobile phone? How old were you when you got it? Do you even own one?
My first mobile was one of those Nokia candybar things. They were excellent. I still fondly remember not having to charge my phone more than once a week. I was older than when I got my pager. :P And yes, I “even” own one, still. It’s a Samsung Galaxy model.
Mobiles have become pretty essential tools. It would be difficult to obtain or maintain a job without one. - Have you ever owned a smartphone?
Obviously; see above. I would be just as agitated about not being able to find my phone as I would be if I couldn’t find my wallet or my keys. - What was the first printer like and the paper that you used when you got your very first computer? Could it print photos -- the first printer you worked on or owned?
There is a pretty big technological gulf between the first printer I ever used, which was through a computer course when I was still in primary school and was a dot matrix printer, and the first printer I ever owned, which was a colour inkjet printer and could print photos. - When you were in
collegeuniversity, freshman and sophomore years, did you type on a computer or type-writer?
When I was at university, I typed on the aforementioned word processor when I was in my dorm/flat, and on a computer when I went to the library. - What age were you when streaming came out? You can pick decade - aka 20s, 30s, teens…
That’s very generous of you, thank you, meme. Although your question is distressingly vague, as it doesn’t specify what type of streaming. I will therefore choose to rhapsodise over Napster. Napster, for those who never encountered it before it got decisively shut down, was a file-sharing service. It was most definitely operating on the fringes of legality, but I discovered so much great music through sharing MP3s on it, and frankly, I spent more money on music (CDs and LPs) during its brief three-year reign than I have at any other time in my life. I like Spotify, which is its modern, legal equivalent, but because I pay a monthly subscription, it doesn’t engender the same thrill as I used to get from going out to the record shop and hunting up the latest industrial/electronic thing I’d ferreted out on Napster.
Sure, my house is probably less cluttered than it would be if I’d kept up that rate of buying music in hard copy, but I’m not sure I’m as culturally or aurally satisfied. :P - What age were you when you got your first MP3 Player? Do you even own one?
I don’t remember how old I was, but my first MP3 player had 32MB of storage. I could fit six songs on it, on average. I used it at the gym. I think I probably still “even” have a slightly better MP3 player stuffed away in a drawer somewhere, but I use my phone to listen to music these days, including at the gym. - Did you own a record player, cassette player, CD player or MP3 player as a kid or teen?
I owned the first three during childhood/teen years. I don’t currently have a record player and that does bother me as I still have a nice LP collection with some rare stuff in it. At what ageWhen did you start blogging on the internet?
I first started blogging on the internet a couple of years prior to joining LiveJournal, so let’s say 1999. But the LJ model was what really got me into it, and I have never stopped since.- E-book reader -- when did these come out? What age?
I imagine “when did they come out” is easily Googled, meme. The “Age of Information” I’m guessing. Sorry, I’m getting a bit snide now.
Anyway, I have only ever owned one e-book reader and that was a Kindle. I used it loads for about 18 months in 2008-2009, I think, and then it died and I never replaced it, because argh, Amazon. Also see: raising small children. I'm pleased, however, that in the past year I've managed to muster enough energy to start reading full-length novels and non-fiction books again, although obviously I still read dead tree editions. - How do you listen to music? On what devices?
I listen to music through Spotify on my phone and either Spotify or YouTube on my computers and laptop.
If you haven't done so yet, I encourage you to answer the questions, either in the comments here or on your own journal, please.
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Do you have Internet babies on your list who are too young to remember Napster, or friends who are old enough who didn't have the privilege of Internet at home at that age?
I can handle my students being younger than YouTube and never experiencing a dial-up modem or Napster. But among my peers.....
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I played my kids the dial-up modem sound and they both went, "that's not a nice noise." They were horrified at the thought of having to listen to it repeatedly every day in order to get to the internet, aka iPlayer/YouTube.
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It is a pretty fascinating set of questions...outside of...presuming that if you are not a young 20s person you're 80?
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Hahaha, you nailed it. There's a load of stuff missing here, which makes me think the person who wrote it didn't experience, as an adult, the weird period in late 1990s/early 2000s when there were all sorts of dead-end technologies that had very brief periods of popularity. Like laserdiscs. Or minidisc players.
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Computers where one loaded the program from a cassette tape
Acoustic couplers
"Mobile" phones the size of a brick like the Motorola I had in the mid 90s
When it was considered "unprofessional" to have an email address on a business card
PROFS
Unix shell accounts and Telnet
When there was an internet but no WWW
Not just dot matrix but golf ball printers
When a B&W laser printer cost $5000 and a Compaq portable with a 5MB HD cost $7000
Hacking the copy protection on programs on floppy disk
All those "not quite a PC clones"; Victor, Peach, etc
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Hahahaaaa, yes, I remember this one. And then it was abruptly and for no immediately apparent reason, absolutely fine.
I forgot to mention PDAs as well. I loved mine, and then very suddenly stopped using it when I had a laptop that was powerful enough and light enough to take everywhere.
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Napster I know well, although Audiogalaxy, I believe, was the sharing service of choice in my space. And it was also excellent at allowing you to discover interesting things while you were searching for other things.
There is totally a giant gap in the between tech that was industrial and the tech that won the technology wars of the last several decades.
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There's an essay in there somewhere. There's probably a PhD thesis in there somewhere, to be fair.
Speaking of other flashes-in-the-pan remember netbooks? I had one and used it for about three months. :/
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Some of us remember a time before all that.......
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