I was born and raised in Southern California. I remember going to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Kansas and being so astonished at their telephone “party line.” For those who don’t know, a party line was a telephone line shared by multiple households. When the phone rang, you would have to listen carefully to determine the sequence of rings; for example, 1 long ring followed by 2 short rings would indicate the call was for my Grandparent’s. Another sequence of long and short rings would indicate another household. And, yes, if you picked up the telephone, even though the call was not yours, you could listen in to the conversations of others. Not that I ever did that. That’s just what I was told.

I remember actually having to buy film and flashbulbs before taking photos with my little Brownie camera. Then I would have to go to the store and turn in my film for processing and wait a week before getting my pictures back.

When I wrote school papers, I either went to the library or used the Encyclopedia’s that our family was so fortunate to have.

We had a black and white television until I was a senior in high school. And we had to get up off the couch and walk over to the television to turn a dial when we wanted to change channels.

I could go on. My point is that things have changed. Technology has evolved. Much of it has been good.

Most of us carry mobile phones that allow us to be in immediate contact with who we want when we want. We can take photos with our digital cameras, and even our phones, and see our photos right away. We can even use our phones, computers, or other devices to search for information. And, oh, yes, we can even watch television on those same devices.

I have to admit, though, that one of my favorite pieces of technology is the Echo Dot. I just LOVE this little thing! I have several throughout the house and use it for various things, like setting reminders and timers or asking Alexa to play my favorite music, or asking what temperature to cook certain foods. I love that Alexa is teaching my 5-year-old grandson how to speak Spanish and that it has been a great introduction to technology for him.

I received this text from our daughter-in-law today:

“Something very sad has happened…. Owen can now understand when we spell words!!!! Brian and I were talking about going to the s-w-i-m club and Owen said, “Yay! Let’s go to the swim club!!”

Then later Brian was talking about taking the kids to the f-a-i-r tomorrow. And this was the following conversation:
Owen: “I can’t WAIT to go to the fair!”
Brian: “Are you sure that’s what it spells?”
Owen: “Okay, Alexa, how do you spell fair?”

I told Brian he needed to start speaking Pig Latin. But come to think of it, I’ll bet Alexa knows how to speak that too.