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Tech history meme
(Remember when we used to do these kinds of memes all the time? I miss them.)
1. Did you have a cell and/or mobile phone prior to your thirties? Did they exist?
I got my first cell when I was about 30 I think. They existed prior to that -- I was one of the last in my circle to get one -- but they were just starting to become ubiquitous.
2. Did you have cable when you were a little kid? When did you first get cable?
Not until we moved to California. The towns where we lived in Iowa were too small for cable, although one was talking about getting it around the time we left in 1985. Over-the-air TV reception is quite terrible in the Bay Area because of all the hills, so we got super-basic cable, but it only covered broadcast channels. I didn't have full-featured cable until after I graduated from college.
3. Do you know what 8-track tapes are and did you ever own an 8-track tape player?
I'm familiar with the technology but I never owned one.
4. Did you own cassette tapes and walkman or tape player in high school and college university?
Yep. I grew up with cassettes in the house and I had an old-school cassette recorder that I used to make mix tapes off the radio. I got my first Walkman in high school, and I used it to listen to tapes while on the long bus ride to school. It stayed with me through college -- I got my first CD player my junior year, which was the first year I had my own form room and couldn't mooch off someone else's equipment, but I didn't upgrade to a portable CD player until after I graduated, and it was many years later before I had a car stereo that could play CDs.
5. When did you get your first DVD player?
My housemate E had a DVD player (and a laserdisc!), and we started living together in late 1995. First DVD player of my own was probably not until I bought my first computer with one, but I can't remember exactly when that was.
6. Did you learn how to type on a typewriter? Did you own a typewriter growing up?
My dad had a typewriter for his work, and I took two semesters of typing in high school (one in summer school before freshman year, one as a fill-out-the-schedule elective in my junior year) on typewriters, but we got our first computer when I was in junior high, and that's really where I learned to type.
7. What was the first computer you owned?
My family's first computer was a PC Jr that my aunt (who worked for IBM) gifted to us. The first computer I owned myself was a Mac Centra, which I bought from my then-boyfriend when I needed one for grad school.
8. When did you first get email?
In college, when we were all assigned a school email address. I think this was a common experience in the early '90s.
9. When did you first encounter the internet?
My aunt bought us a subscription to Prodigy when she got us the computer, which was probably in 1987 or '88. We mostly used it to stay in touch with her; I didn't really get into using the Internet for my personal communications until college, when it became my primary way of chatting with friends back home, mostly via email and the Unix Talk app.
10. When did you start using Facebook, Twitter, and Dreamwidth, and Livejournal?
Facebook: I think I signed up in 2008, but I didn't get into using it regularly until 2010, right after my 15-year college reunion, when it became clear that it was the best way to stay in touch with Bryn Mawr people. In theory, I maintain a wall between Facebook and my fannish internet presence, but I've become much less strict about it since Lady Business won the Hugo and I decided I wanted to let people over there know. I still don't provide a strong connection, though.
Twitter: I joined in early 2009. I was off and on the first few years, mostly because I had trouble finding an app I really liked. I got more active in 2015 or so.
Dreamwidth: I got myself an account fairly early on, but I didn't start crossposting until sometime in 2010. However, I imported all my LJ posts into DW at some point, so this DW is a complete archive of my journal posting.
Livejournal: I signed up for LJ in 2004, when I was laid off from my dotcom job, with the idea that I would keep an unemployment journal. But within a year I discovered fandom and changed my life forever. For several months I kept up a fanfiction journal that was separate from this one (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kjswritinglog), but I quickly learned that the separation was unsustainable, and I abandoned the idea. I stopped crossposting in April 2017, and although I didn't delete (I loathe the idea of contributing to linkrot), I haven't really been back there since.
11. What was your first cell mobile phone? Have you ever owned a smartphone?
A Samsung flip phone. I still miss having a flip phone for calls. I got my first iPhone in 2009 and quickly became addicted to it.
12. What was the first printer and the paper that you used when you got your very first computer? Could your first printer print photos?
The printer that my aunt got us with the PC Jr was a thermal printer, that printed everything on a single roll of paper. So you had to cut them into regular-size pages with scissors and flatten them between heavy books before you could turn any papers in. It did not print photos.
13. When you were in college/university, freshman and sophomore years, did you type on a computer or type-writer?
I had a really crappy cheapo electric dot-matrix typewriter that I used the first half of my frosh year. Then I discovered the joys of the computer center and never looked back.
14. When did you start using streaming?
I've used Pandora off and on for awhile, can't remember exactly when it started. I still prefer to own my own music, so I've never signed up for a paid service like Spotify. We signed up for Netflix streaming sometime in the late 2000s, after a few years of being on DVD-only plans.
15. When did you get your first MP3 Player? Do you even own one?
I got an iPod in the early 2000s I think, not first generation but pretty early on, and kept using them even after I got a smartphone, because I could upload my entire music collection.
16. Did you own a record player, cassette player, CD player or MP3 player as a kid or teen?
My parents had a turntable for my entire childhood, but I never had one of my own. See above for the other answers. (Of the above, only MP3 players didn't exist in my teen years).
17. When did you start blogging on the internet?
With my LJ, in 2004.
18. E-book reader -- when did you get one?
I don't own a dedicated e-book reader, but I got an iPad Mini in 2014, and I chose that form factor largely because I thought it would make an ideal e-reader in terms of size, shape, and weight. I have a Mini 4 now, and although I use it for many many things other than books, it's still my only e-reader (although I still read more in print than digital).
19. How do you listen to music? On what devices?
Most of the time on my phone, but I also use my laptop (which is how I'm listening right now).
1. Did you have a cell and/or mobile phone prior to your thirties? Did they exist?
I got my first cell when I was about 30 I think. They existed prior to that -- I was one of the last in my circle to get one -- but they were just starting to become ubiquitous.
2. Did you have cable when you were a little kid? When did you first get cable?
Not until we moved to California. The towns where we lived in Iowa were too small for cable, although one was talking about getting it around the time we left in 1985. Over-the-air TV reception is quite terrible in the Bay Area because of all the hills, so we got super-basic cable, but it only covered broadcast channels. I didn't have full-featured cable until after I graduated from college.
3. Do you know what 8-track tapes are and did you ever own an 8-track tape player?
I'm familiar with the technology but I never owned one.
4. Did you own cassette tapes and walkman or tape player in high school and college university?
Yep. I grew up with cassettes in the house and I had an old-school cassette recorder that I used to make mix tapes off the radio. I got my first Walkman in high school, and I used it to listen to tapes while on the long bus ride to school. It stayed with me through college -- I got my first CD player my junior year, which was the first year I had my own form room and couldn't mooch off someone else's equipment, but I didn't upgrade to a portable CD player until after I graduated, and it was many years later before I had a car stereo that could play CDs.
5. When did you get your first DVD player?
My housemate E had a DVD player (and a laserdisc!), and we started living together in late 1995. First DVD player of my own was probably not until I bought my first computer with one, but I can't remember exactly when that was.
6. Did you learn how to type on a typewriter? Did you own a typewriter growing up?
My dad had a typewriter for his work, and I took two semesters of typing in high school (one in summer school before freshman year, one as a fill-out-the-schedule elective in my junior year) on typewriters, but we got our first computer when I was in junior high, and that's really where I learned to type.
7. What was the first computer you owned?
My family's first computer was a PC Jr that my aunt (who worked for IBM) gifted to us. The first computer I owned myself was a Mac Centra, which I bought from my then-boyfriend when I needed one for grad school.
8. When did you first get email?
In college, when we were all assigned a school email address. I think this was a common experience in the early '90s.
9. When did you first encounter the internet?
My aunt bought us a subscription to Prodigy when she got us the computer, which was probably in 1987 or '88. We mostly used it to stay in touch with her; I didn't really get into using the Internet for my personal communications until college, when it became my primary way of chatting with friends back home, mostly via email and the Unix Talk app.
10. When did you start using Facebook, Twitter, and Dreamwidth, and Livejournal?
Facebook: I think I signed up in 2008, but I didn't get into using it regularly until 2010, right after my 15-year college reunion, when it became clear that it was the best way to stay in touch with Bryn Mawr people. In theory, I maintain a wall between Facebook and my fannish internet presence, but I've become much less strict about it since Lady Business won the Hugo and I decided I wanted to let people over there know. I still don't provide a strong connection, though.
Twitter: I joined in early 2009. I was off and on the first few years, mostly because I had trouble finding an app I really liked. I got more active in 2015 or so.
Dreamwidth: I got myself an account fairly early on, but I didn't start crossposting until sometime in 2010. However, I imported all my LJ posts into DW at some point, so this DW is a complete archive of my journal posting.
Livejournal: I signed up for LJ in 2004, when I was laid off from my dotcom job, with the idea that I would keep an unemployment journal. But within a year I discovered fandom and changed my life forever. For several months I kept up a fanfiction journal that was separate from this one (
kjswritinglog), but I quickly learned that the separation was unsustainable, and I abandoned the idea. I stopped crossposting in April 2017, and although I didn't delete (I loathe the idea of contributing to linkrot), I haven't really been back there since.11. What was your first cell mobile phone? Have you ever owned a smartphone?
A Samsung flip phone. I still miss having a flip phone for calls. I got my first iPhone in 2009 and quickly became addicted to it.
12. What was the first printer and the paper that you used when you got your very first computer? Could your first printer print photos?
The printer that my aunt got us with the PC Jr was a thermal printer, that printed everything on a single roll of paper. So you had to cut them into regular-size pages with scissors and flatten them between heavy books before you could turn any papers in. It did not print photos.
13. When you were in college/university, freshman and sophomore years, did you type on a computer or type-writer?
I had a really crappy cheapo electric dot-matrix typewriter that I used the first half of my frosh year. Then I discovered the joys of the computer center and never looked back.
14. When did you start using streaming?
I've used Pandora off and on for awhile, can't remember exactly when it started. I still prefer to own my own music, so I've never signed up for a paid service like Spotify. We signed up for Netflix streaming sometime in the late 2000s, after a few years of being on DVD-only plans.
15. When did you get your first MP3 Player? Do you even own one?
I got an iPod in the early 2000s I think, not first generation but pretty early on, and kept using them even after I got a smartphone, because I could upload my entire music collection.
16. Did you own a record player, cassette player, CD player or MP3 player as a kid or teen?
My parents had a turntable for my entire childhood, but I never had one of my own. See above for the other answers. (Of the above, only MP3 players didn't exist in my teen years).
17. When did you start blogging on the internet?
With my LJ, in 2004.
18. E-book reader -- when did you get one?
I don't own a dedicated e-book reader, but I got an iPad Mini in 2014, and I chose that form factor largely because I thought it would make an ideal e-reader in terms of size, shape, and weight. I have a Mini 4 now, and although I use it for many many things other than books, it's still my only e-reader (although I still read more in print than digital).
19. How do you listen to music? On what devices?
Most of the time on my phone, but I also use my laptop (which is how I'm listening right now).