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June 1980: The Sony Walkman
The Sony Walkman tape recorder was huge. I still own mine and it still works. I loved mixing tapes and listening on the boom box. This made it much more portable. Coupled with headphones, freedom and no longer tied to the boom box.
Image from mediadump.com. -
December 1980: Commodore VIC-20
This was a great technology year. I was a sophomore in high school and my parents bought the Commodore VIC-20 computer. I used to “hack” the code and change game labels. I used to have my friends over to play games. It was a new way to socialize before social media.
Image from en.wikipedia.org. -
September 1984: Texas Instruments TI-66 Programmable Calculator
My second year in college, I purchased the Texas Instruments TI-66 calculator. This was a physics course life saver. Our professor allowed calculators of any kind. He said that on tests, we could just write the answer or show work for partial credit. I would spend inordinate amounts of time programming formulas into the calculator with the ability to stop at each step. Of course, by doing this I learned the formulas. He knew what he was doing.
Image from datamath.org. -
March 1985: Quasar VCR
Although the VCR (video cassette recorder) first came out in 1975. I got my first VHS VCR in 1985. It was awesome! I recorded The Rifleman show, the whole series, and binge watched it. I believe it cost around $350 at that time. Before the VCR, if you wanted to see a movie or show twice, you just waited and hoped you were home and happened to see that the show would be on when perusing TV Guide.
Image from pinterest.co.uk. -
May 1985: Cellular Bag Phone
I bought my cell phone with Cellular One. Just 25 cents or more per minute or partial minute. It was a full-size phone that sat on the floor board. Loved and hated it. It was always fun trying to complete your thoughts and messages in record time trying to avoid hitting and paying for the next minute. I loved the idea of being able to contact anyone from my car at any time.
Image from oaktreevintage.com. -
July 1992: AOL Dial-up Internet Service
I got dial-up internet service with AOL. Slow, so slow, but oh so much to do! I spent hours waiting and hours soaking up information and fun. The information I could search for even then was pretty amazing. -
May 1993: My First PC (Personal Computer)
I finally purchased my own Windows PC. I was in college and what a great device for writing papers and printing them. No more begging my mom to type them on the typewriter (well, I still begged). The ability to “process” the page was a game changer. Cut and paste, fix mistakes, rework the assignment, all before printing was just fantastic for a college student. -
August 2016: My First Online University Courses
I began taking online courses through Marshall University. I love that I can take courses in my town of Beckley, WV, without having to drive to Charleston, WV or farther. I can juggle work, kids, marriage, and school. Getting the hang of Blackboard was a bit of a learning curve but I am back in 2018 doing it all over again. Technology is truly amazing!
Image from marshall.edu.
