One of the side effects of having a child is how much one’s perspective changes on things. Priorities are instantly shifted around (“how much do I really need that wireless induction charger for my Wiimotes?”) and one becomes an expert on things only interesting to other people with babies and/or other people who plan to have babies (ask me about formula!)
But since I work in technology and have for pretty much all of my life it’s interesting to think now about what’s going to make no sense to my kid later in his life. I was talking about this with friends last night, and one suggested that for our parents it might have been how big a shift color TV was. (“Everything was in black and white!”)
The easiest examples for me have to do with music and media. I mean, this sounds weird:
In order to get music for my first stereo, I’d have to go to a store where they exclusively sold music – or a Venture or K-Mart. There I’d buy a small plastic disc, packaged inside a square plastic case, packaged in a long box of cardboard. I’d then bring it home and listen to it on my stereo because portable CD players didn’t exist. And then I could listen to it track-by-track, but couldn’t resequence it.
It also blows my mind to think about what my son will think is equally nonsensical in, say, 30 years.
Posted in Everyday Life