When I first saw this question, I thought to myself that this is one question that can not be answered in a short blog! So I plan to answer this one in several different areas. Today I am going to talk about changes in technology. Kids today would find it hard to exist without all the modern conveniences, things that they think were always around and they can't believe that we could and did enjoy life without them. I was about six when I remember our first telephone and it is hard to compare it with the I-Phone and Blackberry of today's society. It was a big black box that hung on the wall. You picked it up and a voice would say "operator" and you would simply say who you wanted to talk too and she would connect you. Not long after that they actually put a dial on the box and you dailed numbers but you could still dial O and talk to a real person. At one time all three of my sisters were operators at Southern Bell in Sheffield, Ala. One of my sisters, Gladys Brewer, worked her way up to Chief Operator and had 25 operators working under her. This was a great job for a woman to have and she worked there for over twenty years until she passed away. I would go to the office with her and it was fascinating to see how they worked. It is a far cry from the phones that everyone carries around today.
Televisions had been around for a few years but most people didn't have them. My Dad always liked new things so when his friend, Clyne Taylor, a radio repairman decided to sell TVs, we had one of the first ones in Iuka. We had an antenna on the roof since the closest station was in Memphis. You were at the mercy of the weather if you could watch or not. We would have lots of friends that would come over to watch. Everything was in black and white and Friday Night was my Dad's favorite night so he could watch boxing sponsored by Gillette razor blades! Of course, I liked Howdy Doody, Long Ranger, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Mickey Mouse Club with Annette! My Mom liked the soap operas and later I watched Bandstand and anything the rock stars were on. There was no MTV then!!!! The stations would go off each night around midnight and they would play the National Anthem with flags flying and then show a "test pattern".
Computers hadn't been heard of, and when you bought something at the store they had cash registers with buttons to push. We had no adding machines and I took a course using a comptometer and it took me three months to complete and they called it the "first mechanical calculator". The first computer I ever saw was when I worked at First National Bank in Memphis. It took up almost an entire floor and the temp had to be around 68 at all times. Everyone had to wear sweaters to work on it and it was behind glass doors! It took us so long to get all the records ready to be put online, that I told my husband that if I ever worked for another company that went on computer I would quit!!!! Now we hold in our hands machines with more records. It is amazing.
Computers and televisions have probably changed the world more than any thing else in my life time. Cars and airplanes have succeeded in making the world shrink, but Tvs and Computers have changed from simple inventions to things we cannot live without. Some of this is good and some is bad, but I always say there are five things I would find it hard to live without, my cell phone, computer, microwave, cell phone, and most of all my internet!!!!
Televisions had been around for a few years but most people didn't have them. My Dad always liked new things so when his friend, Clyne Taylor, a radio repairman decided to sell TVs, we had one of the first ones in Iuka. We had an antenna on the roof since the closest station was in Memphis. You were at the mercy of the weather if you could watch or not. We would have lots of friends that would come over to watch. Everything was in black and white and Friday Night was my Dad's favorite night so he could watch boxing sponsored by Gillette razor blades! Of course, I liked Howdy Doody, Long Ranger, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Mickey Mouse Club with Annette! My Mom liked the soap operas and later I watched Bandstand and anything the rock stars were on. There was no MTV then!!!! The stations would go off each night around midnight and they would play the National Anthem with flags flying and then show a "test pattern".
Computers hadn't been heard of, and when you bought something at the store they had cash registers with buttons to push. We had no adding machines and I took a course using a comptometer and it took me three months to complete and they called it the "first mechanical calculator". The first computer I ever saw was when I worked at First National Bank in Memphis. It took up almost an entire floor and the temp had to be around 68 at all times. Everyone had to wear sweaters to work on it and it was behind glass doors! It took us so long to get all the records ready to be put online, that I told my husband that if I ever worked for another company that went on computer I would quit!!!! Now we hold in our hands machines with more records. It is amazing.
Computers and televisions have probably changed the world more than any thing else in my life time. Cars and airplanes have succeeded in making the world shrink, but Tvs and Computers have changed from simple inventions to things we cannot live without. Some of this is good and some is bad, but I always say there are five things I would find it hard to live without, my cell phone, computer, microwave, cell phone, and most of all my internet!!!!
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