Home / 20th ClubZ Tutoring Anniversary: 20 Year Perspective on Technology

20th ClubZ Tutoring Anniversary: 20 Year Perspective on Technology

It's almost inconceivable to think of spending a day without your cell phone, or (gasp!) access to the Internet. But flash back to 20 years ago and we were all quite enamored with our Discman® music players, and chatting away on AOL® Instant Messenger; that is, until the Internet connection was lost because someone picked up the house phone (remember connecting via dial up after what seemed like an eternity, only to hear "good bye" 10 seconds after reaching your home screen?!).   And forget Netflix®, we were hitting up the local Blockbuster® video store on Friday and Saturday nights, and hoping that our favorite movie was in stock to rent. All we had to do was remember to rewind before bringing it back to the store or else get hit with a fee - doh! No one could even imagine DVR - if you weren't home to watch your favorite prime time show, you were just out of luck. If two of your favorite TV shows came on at the same time (God forbid: Full House or Wings??), you had some tough choices to make!   Kids didn't have tablets. If they were really lucky, they had a Nintendo Game Boy®. Or they were playing Super Mario Brothers™ or Legend of Zelda™ on their Super Nintendo® or Sega Genesis®; after they blew the dust out of the game cartridge that is, and maybe hit the side of the console a few times to make the graphics clearer. And they couldn't sit very far from the gaming console because wireless controllers were still a few years away.   And let's circle back to cell phones while we're at it. Those sleek, mini-computers we use today to do everything from call a contact to order take out, were only a glimmer in some techy's eye 20 years ago. We believed ourselves to be on the cutting edge of technology with our giant block cell phones, complete with 5 inch antennae and a number key pad. Our kids would probably consider it a punishment now to have to lug one of those around for a day.   Yep, technology has come a LONG way in the last 20 years, and boy are we grateful!
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