How My Life Has Changed since 2000

Remember 2000? The celebrations that followed the scare of Y2K (I think I still have a couple of tuna cans from that time, heh)? Dawn of the New Millenium?

Hard to believe that it was 10 years ago since we wrote 19somethingsomething on our checks.  There have been so many changes to the world since that affect our daily lives; I thought it'd be fun to look back and marvel at how different we were ten years ago and how we've ada[ted our lives to all the new technology thrown at us.

Ten years ago, I was definitely online LESS, mostly for email and to check out a few websites.  Blogs were just the new fad that I heard about and everyone was still fwding stupid jokes they've read on their email to 100 of their friends.  This instant gratification has translated to the "death" of snail mail.  Nobody writes letters any more, unless it's to the IRS.  And now, they're predicting the death of email too because everyone is text-messaging.

After my first book was published in 2003, I jumped onto the blogging wagon and have been blogging since.  In the beginning, there was much to say, much to share, loads of things to wonder about; nowadays, sometimes I read the controversies and the discussions online and instead of bringing it to my blog, I just shrug it off because I've read the same arguments and reactions before, maybe worded a little differently.  Eventually, some troll would appear and everyone would start acting like the McCoys and Hatfields, and the whole thing is buried under a bunch of hate. 

Ten years of these cycles and one start recognize the symptoms.  Looking back, ten years ago, I'd never have thought I'd be having a war of words with faceless persons over the Internet about anything.  Or that millions of people would do the same!  It's both amazing and weirdly trivial at the same time.

Ten years ago, I swore I'd not depend on this stupid pencilbox-sized thing called a cellphone.  Today, I've no land line and the cellphone has evolved into the palm-sized smartphone and everyone wants one because they can do everything on the smartphone.  Listening to music.  Playing games.  Email.  Surfing the net.  Calculate job costs.  Read a book.  You can do that with that phone now.  My eyes are ten years older and not liking these new smaller gadgets at all.  I get grumpy--extremely so--when I have to press five different buttons to get something I can just check on my old-fashioned wall calendar.

The gadgets have come fast and furious since 2000, haven't they?  Toys and TVs are so sophisticated now, I need a degree to operate them.  Of course, the "kids today" can do all that with their eyes closed, but yeah, who'd thought I'd turn into that old fart who complain about figuring out their VCR in ten years?!  Yet, setting things up ARE simpler too--Plug 'N Play, thou art a lifesaver.  Without the wizardry of Plug 'N Play, I swear all my gadgets would still be in their boxes, waiting for some time in the future to set up.

Ten years ago, we needed to go to a store to develop our photos.  Today, we could take 1000 digital pics and never print a single of them.  Is that good or bad?

Ten years ago, we didn't know how many sex offenders lived within a ten-mile radius of our house.

Ten years ago, we wrote checks for everything.  I think we'll be going the way of Europe and Britain in the near future--no more paper checks, everything debit/credit cards and eChecks.

Ten years ago, we bought newspapers.  I read most of my news online now.  Once in a while, I indulge myself by buying one so I could sit at the local greasy spoon, enjoy my coffee and a whole newspaper.  It's a lost art, actually, sitting a coffee place and NOT checking online media and email.

Ten years ago, nobody could find me if I didn't want to be found.  Today, we can track each other with cells, GPS, online cookies, Googlemap, and social media.  When I was a teen, I didn't want my parents to know where I was at, and they could never find me till I got home.  Teens today are willing to be called by their parents, have their accounts checked when they use money at the mall, and not care if their reading/watching/anything were monitored.  I WOULD NEVER HAVE GONE FOR THAT.  I WOULD HAVE FOUND A WAY TO KEEP MY PARENTS OUT OF MY SEKRITS.

Not saying that it's not good parenting to know what your kids are up to because the world has gotten more dangerous, but when I was a kid, no way in hell would I let my parents tag me with essentially a wireless leash.  I mean, if I was reading sexy romances on my Kindle, my savvy mom would know.  She could google titles and authors and check out the reviews.  Yes, of course kids steal hide stuff today (and there would be technically-challenged mom the likes of me), but it's getting more difficult as we all become a gadget-immersive world.  For eg., I see moms today texting their kid to come home.   And their kid TEXT BACK.  I find that extremely amusing.

Ten years ago, I wrote more.  On a legal pad, during lunch break.  Today, I write a lot less on my laptop, even though I spend more time on it.  It's my personal failure, compounded by the extremely bad economy since 2007.  But in general, small e-gadgets (I-Pad, smartphones, flashdrives) have promised more time to do anything one wanted anywhere at any time.  I haven't found this to be true.  I just have more gadgets.

Wireless.  Never has there been a word so insidious and deceptive.  Wireless makes one thing of freedom, yes?  Yet, if you think about it, we're no longer that free.  Wireless has tied us to each other and to strangers.  We walked around wired wirelessly to some satellite which monitors, records, processes, and downloads everything we "tell them to."  Our wireless footprints give us away.  Mephistopheles should be renamed Wireless.  There's a novel in there somewhere.

2011 starts another decade.  I'm not sure I like some of the changes/advances of the last ten years.  The heightened security, for example, has made me want to fly less.  I just can't stand the lines or the invasion of privacy.  Which is another topic altogether.  Do you feel you have less privacy now, or is it just me?

One thing hasn't changed, though.  Roofing.  Whereas technology have morphed like that Michael Jackson video that first used that technique, changing features and faces quickly and seamlessly, roofing and all things that need sweat and muscle have changed little.  I'm still doing the same things, wearing the same tools, and swinging the same air tools. 

And since the great Depression of 2008, it's been back to the ancient art of re-roofing, which has essentially been exactly the same the last 50 years--climb on roof, bend over, tear old shingles off, throw into trailer, repeat.  So, I can say that there is one thing that has stayed the same since 2000!  Which...my ten-year older body isn't happy about!

So, what are some of the things (or one thing) you do today that you didn't do 10 years ago?  How have the last 10 years' changes affected your life?

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade to all my friends and visitors!  May you have the best things for the year ahead!

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