It’s incredible to see how quickly technology and electronics have changed in the past 30 years.
As a 31-year-old born in 1990, I’ve seen a firsthand phenomenal internet and digital evolution from decade to decade. Every year, different electronics were released that continued to capture my imagination through advances in technology.
Now, computers are no longer tied to living room use only, and we all carry a computer in our pocket at all times in the form of a smartphone. Technology has changed to be more accessible to all and is involved in all aspects of life. From our vehicles to our jobs, technology runs our lives.
I’ve collected electronics in all eras of my life, and I share this compilation of anecdotes for some I consider most memorable.
Amazed by Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange
I recall watching someone use Microsoft Outlook for the first time.
My Uncle used Microsoft Exchange to answer emails on a 15″ IBM laptop and keep his contacts updated on his laptop and phone. I was fascinated. Microsoft Exchange, at the time, was incredible to me.
The ability to sync blew my mind.
This was well before the complete world of cloud computing had fully evolved, so I was in for a treat when the next ten years unfolded.
Wikipedia and Information at Our Fingertips
As a child, my Grandma had one of those complete 23-volume Encyclopedia Britannica sets from the 60s, and I would take each volume out and worship from their pages. It was in those pages where you could travel to all parts of the world with only the turn of a page and learn, see and experience all that land and culture had to offer.
Fast forward a few years, and I vividly remember my family gathered around my Aunt on her computer. She had one of the earliest versions of Wikipedia pulled up on Internet Explorer. Everyone gawked as she pulled up page after page of information, all connected on this new interweb.
The memory was deeply seared, and I’ll never forget the excitement felt in that room.
The Old Family Projector Gave a Glimpse of the Past
When my grandfather would pull out the old projector and display slides, I was instantly hooked.
I loved seeing history captured. The family remembered.
Story is everything, and it gave me such a world of wonder and fueled my imagination. This was when I remembered and excitement for chronicling important events and building a content repository. No matter the year, whether living in the city or building their house in the country, there was a moment remembered from the lives of my Grandma and Grandpa.
The method for capturing content might be digital now, but the purpose remains the same.
CDs Set Me Free
I remember listening to music in my Aunt’s Honda Civic.
She would drive me around and I would play CDs from her collection case. Blasting Britney Spears and Alanis Morrisette, the CDs set me free. The rotating CDs enamored me in the player, and the ability to move from song to song in a split second instead of trying to fast-forward a tricky cassette tape manually.
I had a prized CD copy of the debut ‘NSYNC album in my own collection and loved learning the words to every song. Eventually, the Walkman and CD were replaced with the iPod, and music collections were compressed in digital fashion.
Now, our phones carry our music selections.
America Online and AOL Instant Messenger with Strangers
When I would go to Target with my mom, I would always be sure to grab one of AOL’s free trial CDs and find ways to get internet connections at my house and at my Grandma’s.
On AOL, there were chat groups, you could keep a collection of contacts, and show your connections whether or not you were online and ready to chat. It was very easy for people to create unverified accounts, remain anonymous, and this was well before faces were used for profile photos.
Thinking back now, this was a Wild West and maybe, unsafe for all involved.
Learning HTML on Neopets and Yahoo! GeoCities
From the age of nine and for a few years on, I was thoroughly addicted to the online internet game Neopets.
I loved the world of raising virtual pets, collecting money by playing games daily, and learning HTML to build various guilds and presentation pages to attract members from around the world. I had guilds about technology, guilds I joined as a member, and a guild where I collected and shared information about animal care sheets.
Eventually, this love for guild pages eventually took me to Yahoo! GeoCities, where I learned how to code in more meaningful ways and first started attracting people to websites using SEO tactics. One of my most successful Yahoo! GeoCities websites was “Christian’s Animal Care Sheets” and would similarly release information about the care and husbandry of animals since we had many, both in our house and on our property at the time.
Since the time of Yahoo! GeoCities, the web hosting space has changed dramatically, from the services offered to the speed at which pages can be delivered to viewers around the world.
An Eclectic Cubby of Electronics
In the corner of my grandparent’s house there was an alcove cubby where all the old electronics were stored from a family of seven. Old projectors, canisters of film, videography equipment, lamps and more. I would crawl into the alcove and worship all the electronics, conjuring up in my mind ways to use the equipment to film, or combine it all into some form of robotic craft.
In one instance, I pulled out one of the vintage RCA camcorders and made my brothers act in a staged production of the Lion King.
Now, we can capture in 4K resolution instantly by pulling out our phones.
Game Boy Brought Entertainment to the Palm of Your Hand
Before I had my own, I would watch my Aunt play on her Game Boy. It was an original, clunky, and grey. She would play Tetris and I would watch from behind in the row seats while flying down the road in a van to Fort Bragg for a summer vacation.
Eventually, I got my own Game Boy Pocket.
My yellow Game Boy Pocket was a prized possession, and I played the red version of Pokemon until my fingers bled. Those Pokemon adventures on Game Boy swept you away into a world unknown and gave you space to choose your own way creatively.
A Lineage of Windows Operating Systems from Microsoft
In the early days, my grandparents had a computer in the living room, and I quickly claimed it as my own any time the adults weren’t using it. It was a sleek, upgraded Windows XP. I would play Pharoah and Cleopatra until the wee morning hours, and my grandpa would join in. And even before that, I would play solitaire or minesweeper and spider. On the old Windows, Word Art was another world of wonder. I would create endless signs and papers, all for various clubs I made my brothers join me in.
As a really little kid, I think the very first game I remember playing on a computer would be solitaire on my dad’s old Windows 95 computer kept in the garage.
It was on these two computers where I first learned how to edit files, connect printers and speakers, email and more.
iMac G3s Lined Up at Grade School
In grade school the colorful, see-through iMacs were amazing to play games on, from the Oregon Trail to Candyland. I could never get a complete hang on the Mac computers, as I grew up on Windows PCs and continued to use them through adulthood.
In the early morning hours of cold, crisp morning air in Colfax, I remember hoisting my backpack strap onto the back of my chair, and getting settled to work on my iMac G3 for computer lab.
What can I thank iMacs for most? I learned how to type on them.
PalmPilot for Productivity
One year, one of my dad’s business partners gave me an outdated PalmPilot of his.
It had a stylus, and all I ever wanted was to start up a phone service and internet but knew that was beyond my range at such a young age. I loved practicing and pretending to have a business at the time and would schedule myself for a range of activities as a child. That little palm pilot was an absolute favorite for at least a few years.
Obviously, we’ve now compressed the PalmPilot and made it obsolete by folding its abilities into the smartphone, where we can call, schedule, and computer all on one device.
Xbox, Nintendo 64 and NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Many of my friends had PlayStations, but we were an Xbox family.
We had our Xbox that we loved to play. Everything from Star Wars: Battlefront to Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. At friends’ houses, we would play Lord of the Rings games and more and LAN together for games on computers. Starcraft was a major favorite amongst all of us church boys and would battle for endless hours.
On the N64 I loved playing Zelda.
Now, once again, many of the handheld games of the day are played on our smartphones. Its there were you can download any app to play any game that comes to mind, almost instantaneously.
Avatar Blew My Mind
As a teenager, the piece of tech I was most enthralled with was James Cameron’s masterpiece, Avatar. It’s the only movie I’ve seen in the theaters three separate times. I was obsessed when it came out. The world of Pandora, beautifully rendered in high-definition 3D seemed to touch my every sense.
I watch the movie now and I’m still impressed, but already, you can see how far digital animation has progressed. Rendering abilities are out of this world, and will only continue to improve each decade.
What technology is used now?
Now, as an adult, I have a wide array of electronics.
I’ve had an Xbox One, we use a Nintendo Switch often for Super Smash Bros and other games, have tried Roku, use every streaming service from Disney+ to Peacock, have DSLR cameras, use smart plugs to have Alexa turn our lights on and off, I use a powerful desktop for marketing and design work, multiple laptops to work away from home, and Barrett has a second desk with multi-screen setup.
Also to note, we see over 30 years how universally important the smartphone has become, and pay respect to its meteoric rise as central to everyday life. Layer upon layer of various technology has been stacked into a single device we carry around 24/7, and gives us constant access to an entire globe of information, news, and connections.
Yet, I’ll forever be intrigued by something as simple yet useful as a car backup monitor dash cam. We truly live in the future, where anything is possible, and I look forward to another 30 years of advancements in technology.
I have more electronics to collect!
