"Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto"

Oh technology...oh I have a love hate relationship with thee. It's interesting to think back to my childhood and what technology I had back then compared to what I have today. It's even weirder to think about my childhood and that of my nephew and nieces.

Born in the 80's, raised in the 90's vs. Born in the 00's, raised in the 00's

• 1980's - 1990's - A few items
• I grew up playing Atari. I'm aware that most of my peers had Nintendo/SEGA/Super Nintendo at some point, but not my family. We went from Atari -> NES 2 -> Playstation 1 and then in 2007 I bought myself an xbox 360. We still have the Atari in storage. The NES 2 and PS1 are at home & sometimes my nephew plays them. 



NES 2 - top loader

• One of out first TV's was a black and white one and I loved watching classic movies. The King and I was a favorite.
• The TV I loved that most and actually CRIED over when we got rid of it was one of those huge wood encased floor TV's. We had it for so long that we had to use pliers to turn it on and off when the knob broke. I don't know what it was about that TV, but I loved it.



This isn't the exact TV we had, but it was similar.

• Pocket Rockers



I had this design. The mini tapes came w/ two songs from one artist. I remember having a Tears for Fears tape, but I can't recall all the others.

• Computers



I remember playing Oregon Trail on this. I forget what class it was for, but it was sometime in Elementary school.

• 2000's - 2012
• Game consoles keep getting better...and smaller. I upgraded from my Xbox 360 to the new Xbox 360 slim in 2010. I don't regret that decision  although with my work schedule it doesn't get as much love as it could.
• TV's have also followed a similar trend, however instead of getting smaller their screen zises and resolutioins keep getting larger and improving. I bought a 40" flat screen LCD Samsung TV in 2008 on Black Friday. I still have it, and it's made 2 moves so far. I would love to upgrade to a larger (46") but this one does suite me fine for now. It's also pretty thin, but they keep improving that too. My nephew will have mamories of larger TV's as my parents house still has one of those large floor standing big screen TV's. However, there are not many children that will see them in their lifetime.
• Goodbye pocket rockers and hello Ipods! The amount of change that Apple has done over each year to release a new gadget is amazing. 
• Computers may be either Mac or PC, but they don't come like they used to. You won't find any computers sold today with a floppy disc drive, and even some are coming without CD drives included.

There are so many other differences, but these are ones that make me chuckle. Things have changed so much and the trip down memory lane sure does make me feel old. I know things will continue to change and evolve, but the nostalgia of this old stuff is great. I am grateful for what I had during my childhood and I am thankful that I can afford the items that I own by myself now. Technology can, at times, keep us secluded and away from human interactions, but for me being so far from home it allows me to stay in touch with family and friends. I am thankful for the opportunity to have those connections and the ability to hang on to them.