THE FIRST TIME I SAW TELEVISION. The first time I saw television was in early October 1948 when I was 6. Our neighbors several houses down from us had acquired a television set. They invited all of the men on the block to watch one of the games in the 1948 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves. My father managed to get us included in the invitation. A little later, the men on the block were invited to watch the Northwestern-Notre Dame game.
This was the first time my father saw television. It never occurred to me to ask either of my parents what it was like for them to encounter the inventions that occurred in their lifetimes.
So I don’t miss the opportunity to ask you a similar question that’s relevant for your lifetime, I would like to ask this: Dad, what has it been like for you to encounter the new inventions of recent years? The easy one is the Internet but microwaves, VCRs, DVRs, GPS devices, WiFi-enable tablets, and cell phones also come to mind. I know in person we have talked about how the Internet has been amazing for bringing lonely people together (you commented on this back when I was in high school) but I thought I might as well ask here for broader comments.
Do you feel these inventions have made the world unrecognizable in some ways? What might your parents have thought of them?
Also I would like to point out that my baby-sitting charge, 13 years my junior, liked to make fun of me and call me old because the Internet was not available on home computers when I was a small child.