A technology history meme, stolen from Andrew Ducker

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 10:39:45 GMT

Did you have a cell phone prior to your thirties?

Yes, I think so. I think I did buy a pay as you go mobile phone when I was living in Edinburgh in my early twenties, but it promptly ran out of charge and I lost it. I think the first proper mobile I ever owned was the one I acquired in 2004 – I picked it up in Camden and promptly walked through the market with my nose buried in it, being carefully guided by Dave Walker who was being my responsible adult that day. So…I’d have been 25 then I think?

Did they exist?
Yes, I’m sure they did. I first came across them as a thing when I was in my teens when my dad got one for work.

Did you have cable when you were a little kid?
I’m not sure what this means – cable TV? Or broadband? I mean, either way the answer was ‘no’. My family got TV (BBC, ITV and Channel 4) in the late 1980s when I was in primary school and got the internet at home when I was at university in Edinburgh in the late 1990s.

Do you know what 8-track tapes are?
No idea.

How about cassette tapes?
Oh my goodness, yes! Cassette tapes were the sound of my childhood. I did own some vinyl – I think I had a tiny wind up record player from a young age and I bought a number of singles on vinyl when young – including ‘Bryan Adams – Everything I Do’ with a lovely picture of Kevin Costner on the front – but cassette tapes were a big thing – nearly all blank tapes, with songs pirated from radio, or copied from tapes from the library or from friends. And mix tapes were the medium in which I recorded the emotional narrative of my life. Not gonna lie, I sort of miss them.

When did you get your first DVD player?
I don’t think I ever did. I think I got a Playstation around 2001 from Christmas money from my grandmother. And then got shouted at by a friend because I owed her money but could buy a Playstation? This has left an ongoing question in my mind as to the ethics of money given to you for a specific purpose when one has debt – do you spend the money as you have been told to, or repay your debt? Is it ethical to give someone money with strings attached? I am still not sure.

Did you learn to type on a typewriter?
Yup. I did a Pitman’s course at the age of 16 and also learned shorthand as my mother said if I was a qualified secretary I’d never be out of work and would always be able to support myself. Which was sort of true when I was young, when casual audio typing and secretarial roles was a thing. But no one cares about my shorthand and typing speed now. It’s 90 words per minute, if you care. You don’t care.

What was the first computer you owned?
No idea. It wasn’t until the end of university, I think, and was a crappy laptop. I think my life has mostly been made up of short lived and not very good laptops. It’s why I embraced dropbox so thoroughly when I found it.

What age were you when you first got e-mail?
Nineteen years old, Edinburgh university. I can’t remember the address but I know ‘skye’ was a part of it as we all had a Scottish island as part of our username for server reasons. Then elidore@hotmail.com which I don’t have access to anymore as someone hacked it (I think as part of a messy break up) and used it for evil, including setting up my first ever myspace on my behalf. That myspace contained a lot of icky and horrible stuff bordering on revenge p*rn on it. I then went through a long period of changing emails entirely every so often as part of an ongoing war of attrition with said hacking. The email I have now was set up in 2003 when I went traveling and was my first gmail.

Was the Internet around when you were a kid?
Yes, in theory, but I didn’t really interact with it until I hit university. It wasn’t available at my school or home and wasn’t really very normal.

When did you start using Facebook, Twitter, Livejournal, and Dreamwidth?
Livejournal in 2001 was my first social media form, I think. Facebook was 11 years ago – so 2007. Or so Facebook recently told me. I’m not on Twitter – I have been occasionally, but I’ve never liked it and never posted more than a few times. No idea when. Dreamwidth – I guess when it started up? So 2009 ish?

What was the first printer you owned like?
It was attached to a typewriter – a cheap word processor type set up. And it worked. I’m not sure I expected much more than that.

Collegiate papers: typewriter or computer?
Computer. But it was optional as to which one you did – we still printed it all out and submitted on paper. Online was just coming in. I remember being very panicked when I got there and had to work out how to use the PCs to do anything though – my first essay at Edinburgh was the first time I used Word.

How old were you when streaming came into being?
I have no idea! Maybe late teens? Were the early Quake movies streamed?

What age were you when you got your first MP3 player?
My beautiful iPod that I still miss! Jez got it for me for our first Christmas together at the end of 2004 and it lasted until we moved to Glasgow when it got lost in the move and I mourned so much. So many songs!

Did you own a record player, cassette player, CD player, or MP3 player as a teen?
Cassette Walkman and double deck cassette player for making tapes.

At what age did you start blogging on the Internet?
I guess Livejournal in 2001, so…23 ish?

What age were you when the e-readers came out?
I have no idea! Um….I got a kindle in 2009, so I guess early thirties? I did love my kindle. I do love my kindle. Although it isn’t appropriate for all books and I’m rather sliding back to paper.

How do you listen to music?
In the car, on Spotify via Bluetooth, and at home via the XboX One on either YouTube or Spotify. I’m sadly addicted to streaming services. This sometimes worries me.

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Sally's Journal

A technology history meme, stolen from Andrew Ducker