By Becky Ewing ’14

When I complain about doing homework, my parents always scold me. “At least you have the internet! We had to use textbooks!” “At least you have a computer! We had to use typewriters!” “At least you have a car! We had to ride dinosaurs!” Blah, blah. I never understood why old people say things like that. Well, that is until my seventh grade brother started complaining about how hard middle school is these days.

Shucks, back in my day, we didn’t have any fancy shmancy Promethean boards or whatever the kids call it. No, we used to depend on what we called “overheads.” Kids, do you know what that is? Next time you go to class, keep an eye out for some of the obsolete fossils of my youth. You might even spot a chalkboard, littered with the ruins of unused chalk and erasers.

Ah, I remember those days like it was just yesterday. The days when students would get all giddy in their seats because their teacher rolled in a bulky TV and a VHS in their hands. Only Bill Nye the Science Guy could hold my attention long enough to educate me about science. Not only has technology changed the way we learn, it’s changed everything, even the way we communicate.

By Becky Ewing ’14

Kids these days will never know the nerve-racking feeling of calling a friend’s house phone to hang out. It was like playing a game of Russian roulette but without guns and bullets. We’d just wait anxiously as the phone rang, praying our friend would answer instead of their parents.

However, none of that matters now because who actually uses home phones? Gosh who even calls people anymore? It’s all just texting. These days iPhones are the new Razors, and texting is the new AOL instant messaging. Back then we didn’t have “emojis.” We struggled to accurately convey our emotions through text. The only emotions we could feel were 🙂 or :(. Heck, if we were feeling silly we might’ve even throw in an xD.  LOL.

I remember when Facebook was fun and flip phones were cool, but now only old people use those. Now a days, Facebook is just full of Catfish and selfies, and everyone saves the statuses for twitter. Back in my day we didn’t have twitter to tweet our every thought. If we were bored our awkward middle school selves would go straight to Facebook and post something along the lines of “sOoO bOoreD t3xt Me xD.” No one was judged because everyone did it.

Sure, I can’t leave the house without my iPhone, but, hey, at least during my childhood I could actually get lost. I used to be able to ride my bike down all the twists and turns of the maze that was my neighborhood until I couldn’t recognize the street. It was always an adventure to try to figure out my way back, but now a days, the route from your Current Location to home is just at the click of a button.

Reminiscing about the good ol’ days makes me almost as sad as when my tamagotchi died.  So I would like to make a toast to Gameboys, Club Penguin, and how dare I forget all 32 of my Webkinz. I thank them for my childhood.