Some thoughts on how quickly times have changed!

[Medusa]

This goes along w/Reggie's thread regarding what we'd do w/out the internet. Some of my fondest memories are of going to the library w/my girlfriends and coming home excited and anxious to read the books that we borrowed. Now, as you said, the information that we need is just a click away. That's a good thing but it also is partially responsible for the separation of us all from each other. A "poke" on Facebook just doesn't do it for me. I'm all for progress and don't want to sound old-fashioned but w/each advance in technology I feel that we're taking a step farther away from each other and that is not a good thing.

[Kirsten]

This goes along w/Reggie's thread regarding what we'd do w/out the internet. Some of my fondest memories are of going to the library w/my girlfriends and coming home excited and anxious to read the books that we borrowed. Now, as you said, the information that we need is just a click away. That's a good thing but it also is partially responsible for the separation of us all from each other. A "poke" on Facebook just doesn't do it for me. I'm all for progress and don't want to sound old-fashioned but w/each advance in technology I feel that we're taking a step farther away from each other and that is not a good thing.

I agree with you (just replied to you in Reggie's post). Facebook can be fun, but it is shallow and does not replace a decent conversation (like the ones we have here on PT, or the ones you have with friends in real life).

As for information being just a click away: I love google and I'm googling for tons of things every day, but I remember the times when we bought magazines. In the 80s, I used to be a huge fan of Depeche Mode, and I used to have scrapbooks of the band. It was fun to buy the teen and pop magazines every Thursday, and when they had an article, or a poster of the band, it used to be so exciting and it made my day! These days, you'd be overwhelmed by all the information from the internet, but it's not so special anymore.

Kirsten

[Medusa]

it's not so special anymore.

This says it all for me.

[Kirsten]

Yes, I think it's the lack of these special moments that makes so many lives so empty these days...

Kirsten

[catnapper]

I recently read a book like that too. In my book, the heroine needed info and waited days for it to come via fax... on that curly paper! The info she needed could easily be gotten within 5 mintues today.

In one chapter, she was locked in an odd place; I kept thinking "where's your cell phone?!" but they weren't as common when the book was written.

[Laura's Babies]

Computers have greatly effected our lives since they have been out.. Geez, 20 years ago I was always busy doing something.. Now I sit here all day!

[Kirsten]

Geez, 20 years ago I was always busy doing something.. Now I sit here all day!

Hmm, that's true. At least I'm still reading a lot - paper books, not e-books, btw. But sometimes I wonder in which direction my creativity would have gone without computers...

In my book, the heroine needed info and waited days for it to come via fax... on that curly paper!

OMG, faxes... it doesn't seem too long ago that they were praised to make correspondence so much easier - and now they are completely old-fashioned.
Or think about vcr's. In the mid 80s, you were out of fashion when you did not have one, but recently I've been looked at as if I was a dinosaur when I mentioned I'm still using mine. I also have a dvd player, but occasionally, I would use my vcr for recording stuff from tv, or for watching my old tapes.

Kirsten