Technology

If you know me, you know I am not exactly technologically advanced. Thankfully my husband is. I have a cool touch screen phone and I can do everything from tracking Christmas gifts to tracking myself with the built-in GPS. I can not, however, properly make a phone call. It takes a while. But that's okay because who needs to talk on a phone when all we do is text anyway? Right?

 I was thinking of the things that my kids see on a daily basis that they have no idea we ever did without. Here's a few of the things I came up with:

1. Cell phones. When I was 3 phones weren't even cordless. In the 26 years since I was SB's age phones went from corded (and half were rotary) to cordless (remember the giant phone with antenna Zach used on Saved by the Bell?). Then they invented cell phones that were positively gigantic. When I went to college, cell phones were still pretty new. Now my children wonder why some phones are tethered to the wall.
2. Touch Screens. Okay, so the cell phone is one thing...but Mac doesn not understand why he can't play fingerpaints or tic-tac-toe on everyone's phone. They only know touch screen phones!
3. Tivo. We love our tivo. I think our house would cease to function without the ability to pause The Fresh Beat Band while we eat dinner. During TV time the kids announce, "I want to watch Wubbzy/Dora/Olivia," and expect it to come on immediately. SB knows how to pause the TV and get it to play again all by herself.
4. Car DVD players. When I was a kid cars didn't come with air conditioning, let alone personal video players mounted to the ceiling of the car. Now, our car doesn't have a built in player, but we have a portable DVD player and the kids love to watch movies when we go to their grandparent's house.
5. WiFi. The kids don't understand when my phone or computer take a while to load the page they want to see. I'm a little spoiled because I don't understand it either these days. They also have never known life without internet at the tip of their fingers, not that they really know what it is at this point, but they do watch videos on the laptop or my phone. Remember the familiar sounds the computer made when you dialed into AOL? My kids will never know that!

So that's just a few things that my children have never known life without. And when I tell them about life before WiFi and touch screens they'll wonder how we ever got on without them. And they're think I'm positively archaic. Nice.

What are some things your children have never known life without?