Technology Time Travel, One Keystroke At a Time

Posted by on Aug 23, 2011 in Technology | 7 comments

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Many of you may already be aware, but here at Fast Horse we don’t have assigned desks. Ponies sit wherever creativity and productivity will be best channeled. While this is great for getting work done (and satiating my caffeine fix at Corner Coffee), my computer has become a necessary appendage rather than a simple work machine. The past weeks have delivered fatal blows to my right-hand man because, as we all know, technology is never reliable. My computer has been my partner in crime, archnemesis and forcefully loyal sidekick while words like malware and virus have hung in the air. A seriously nerve-racking situation—especially with so much coffee coursing through my veins.

Would life be easier without all this reliance on technology? Would I be more productive? It’s hard to say because I’ve been engrained to feel that normalcy means: a fast computer, flawless internet connection, a functioning smartphone and instant replies to emails or text messages from people who are just as attached to their phone as I am. Let be honest, this just isn’t the case.

However, there was a simpler technological time filled with dialing noises and virtual door slams—and not too long ago. Technology has grown exponentially in the last 10 years and in honor of FHLT08, my Fast Horse computer, I’ve compiled my top five earliest technology memories.

In case you were worried, my computer is still alive and kicking.

Mavis Beacon
In an effort to encourage educational computer use, my elementary school required we practice and pass a typing test on Mavis Beacon. Not only was this terribly boring, I never caught my typing stride until I signed up for AIM.  Typing skills weren’t critical until it applied to chatting with my friends. Typical.

Chatrooms
A/s/l? I’m a little embarrassed to admit that AOL chatrooms were a staple of my online experience as an impressionable 13-year-old. Nonetheless, they were key to my junior high school sleepovers, serving as late night entertainment and creative fodder for making up fake personal information.

“You’ve Got Mail”
My parents vetoed AOL early on because it was too expensive and couldn’t be swayed by my desperate pleas to activate my chosen screen name. All I wanted was to hear the computerized man say those magical four words, but I’m guessing the aforementioned memory had something to do with their refusal to join AOL.

The dreaded dial-up
I had a good friend who, for the longest time, only had one phone line and a dial-up internet connection. In the time before cell phones, any attempt at communication was beyond frustrating and you were left with dial-up tone ringing in your ears.

Napster
No overhaul of early technology would be complete without mentioning Napster. Downloading popular singles and burning mix cds for friends, this peer-to-peer music sharing site is the grandfather of today’s online music purchasing and listening business (iTunes, Amazon music, Spotify and many more). I credit Napster for cultivating my early love of music, as well as single-handedly booming blank cd sales.

How about you? What are some of your earliest technology memories?

Related posts:

  1. A Dose of Reality For Your Wallet: The Future Of Cell Phones
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  • http://www.theandrewmiller.com/ Andrew Miller

    I think it was AOL version 3.0 that first included AOL Live, a hub that allowed users to interact with celebrities from time to time. This is pretty common stuff now through Livestream, Twitter and the like, but back then, it was mind blowing to think you might able to communicate with your favorite actor or favorite athlete from the comfort of your home.

  • http://www.theandrewmiller.com/ Andrew Miller

    I think it was AOL version 3.0 that first included AOL Live, a hub that allowed users to interact with celebrities from time to time. This is pretty common stuff now through Livestream, Twitter and the like, but back then, it was mind blowing to think you might able to communicate with your favorite actor or favorite athlete from the comfort of your home.

  • http://twitter.com/gniwaszko Gabrielle Iwaszko

    Thinking of music, and regards to today’s MP3 players – the portable cassette player, or better remembered as the Walkman (although that was a specify product from Sony). I can remember nights of sitting next to my stereo listening to my favorite radio stations in hopes of hearing a great song and being able to hit the record button in time and not ending it too soon. I also remember the big boom box systems for the cassette tape (think Radio Raheem from “Do the Right Thing”). Then came the portable CD player, and Napster and blank CDs. And the rest, is how you say, history.

    A little off topic from computers and their progression, but still a huge technology jump that I remember.

  • Susan Garcia

    My friends in college had a theory about instant messaging. If you’re from a small town, the big game in town was “MSN Messenger” (as it was for me, in a town where there are more cows than people), and if you’re from a larger city or suburb, it was all about the “AIM”. In a very informal poll, I’ve actually found this to be 100% true so far!  (Test it out sometime, see if I’m wrong)

    Anyways… my point is that MSN Messenger was the source of all my teen gossip, drama, and one long and drawn out crush. I can only imagine what high school would have been like with Facebook….

  • Andrew Guyton

    Back when I was doing communications work at Minnesota 2020, I wrote up a few hundred words on this very topic (well, the changing face of internet technology, my sheer joy at gaining access to 24/7 broadband when I arrived at college, and how all this related to public broadband policy, but that’s close enough).  Because at our house in Chanhassen, we can’t get broadband.  We’ve been trying for the last eleven years.  We just stopped paying for dial-up in 2010, but that was only because it no longer held any value- the internet had changed so much that any attempt to get anything done on that kind of a connection would probably take more time than a round trip to the local library.  My smartphone’s been a godsend, both for what I can do on the device and for the ability to tether it to my computer and get to the internet that way, but it’s still not the same.

    Some of us are still stuck back where you were 10 years ago, Alex.  Even people who follow Fast Horse.  :/

    http://www.mn2020.org/issues-that-matter/economic-development/where-s-my-internet

  • http://twitter.com/georgefiddler George Fiddler

    Speaking of music and how teenagers: Technology just might be the primary reason for the death of chivalry. A big moment was when dudes could just burn a CD instead of making a mix tape. 

  • http://www.michaelkeliher.com mjkeliher

    Great post, Alex. As for my earliest/favoritest technology memory: OREGON TRAIL!