Is This Where We Thought We Would Be

I was born in the 70's. I grew up in the 80's and 90's. I graduated from university in 1999. Over this time I have watched and participated in computers infiltrating our lives.

When I started school, there was 1 computer lab in the building that you went to once and a while. No one had a home computer. Everything was run by command line.

By junior high a few classrooms had one computer in it. There was still a computer lab. In grade 9 the typing lab also had computers. I think it was a bit too much for the typing teacher. She had been teaching typing since Christ was a Corporal. She retired.

In high school I heard about this thing called the Internet. I didn't have access to it in Russell, Manitoba.

I went to the big city to go to University. I made it one year before I had to buy a computer. It was so vital to get my work done efficiently. By the end of University, computers, the Internet, and email was prevalent. However we were still tethered by wires.

Another explosion came with this wireless idea. To broadcast the Internet over the air. First it was just a wireless router but when cell phone companies started to send the Internet to your phone, the world changed.

We can now get the info we crave anywhere we can make a phone call. It's not just on your phone anymore. You can pipe the signal into your laptop. Devices are specifically designed to capture this data.

I bought an iPad last week. I have a 3G model. This is a perfect example of how computers are getting smaller and doing more. I am finding this new tool to be very useful. I am writing this blog post on it. It is faster to type on than my iPhone,but not as fast as my MacBook Pro. Back in Junior High I did learn to touch type and I have kept the skill up. Since I am typing on a piece of glass it is rather difficult to touch type, but I can go fairly fast. It's hard to say but I think the tablet computer will finally be the puzzle piece that significantly reduces the amount of paper in the office. I can see in 5 to 10 years, we will be routinely using tablets in the work environment and significantly improving our productivity because of it. In addition the older generation of office workers who printout every email they want to keep will be starting their much deserved retirements and much more info will only ever exist in electronic form.

I'm sure everyone sees things change as their life rolls along but it is very interesting to me how computers have changed the world as much as air travel or the printing press.