Why Do Computers Still Seem NEWFANGLED?

[Kitiger, RN]

I didn't grow up with computers. I didn't even take typing in high school - that was for people who wanted to be secretaries! My nursing school papers were done longhand.

The first home computers were so expensive that I didn't even look at them. (In the early 80s, $2,000 was a lot of money!) I clearly remember the first time a friend brought over his "Home PC". He hooked it up to our TV, as the TV screen then became the monitor. He showed me this astounding new feature. He could type a paragraph, and then go back and change a sentence WITHOUT RETYPING THE WHOLE PARAGRAPH! He said it was called "word processing". I was most impressed!

Fast forward: I now have a PC, a Notebook, and a cell phone. It's a somewhat smart phone. At least I can text without using the numbers to select letters.

I took a typing class at the university. Oops, I mean, I took a keyboarding class. I also took a computer class for beginners, and I learned a lot.

I'm fairly efficient at using the PC to do research, and to access my email and Facebook. I enjoy Facebook, although I'm told now that it is old-fashioned.

No, I haven't tried Twitter. Should I?

Even allnurses is new to me; the idea that I can go online and talk to nurses I don't even know. So strange. Yeah, I can do that on Facebook, too, but there I'm talking to my friends - to people that I already know - with strangers listening in. This is different.

Strange.

Delightful.

Newfangled.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I didn't grow up with computers.

Though I get the vibe that I might be a tad bit younger than you (born in the early 80s), I didn't grow up with a computer in the household, either. I obtained my first PC with internet access in December 2000, when I was two months shy of turning 20.

Anyhow, I am pleased you've found your way here. :)

[quiltynurse56, LPN, LVN]

I didn't grow up with computers either. When I took typing in high school we used these really new with great technology typewriters. They were the IBM Selectric typewriters. Yep, the were ELECTRIC!! No more typing too fast for the machine as those "old" type manual typewriters.

We got our first computer in the mid-80s. It was the Commodore 64. My husband typed his Seminary papers on it. It was basically a glorified electric typewriter, but they kept telling us more was to come. Got our first computer to connect to the internet in the mid to late 90s. Boy did that open up a whole new world. Fast forward to now and we carry around these smart phones which have far more power and capabilities than those first computers.

Technology has changed so much in our lifetime. It is hard to imagine what next, when all this seemed like a dream not so many years ago. I remember the Jetsons and their videophone. We thought now way. Now we have Skype and FaceTime amongst other apps where we can see who we are talking too.

[Kitiger, RN]

Remember Dick Tracy's wristwatch telephone? I think it was Dick Tracy.

Hey, I'm supposed to remember the distant past better than that!

[Anonymous865]

I'll date myself. I used a slide rule in high school.

My dad was an engineer. For his job he got the first calculator I ever saw when I was in high school. It cost >$1,000. It did addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. No memory. No square root. No other functions.

When I was in college and took my first computer class, we used key punches to create cards that were read into the computer. 6 or 7 hours later we got our print out back only to discover errors in our program. Back to the key punch. Read in cards. Wait 6 or 7 hours more. Repeat.

Interestingly at 84, dad is very computer literate. His brother at 94 is also very computer literate. Which shows you are never too old to learn.

[Farawyn]

I used an abacus and followed the North Star.

[Anonymous865]

I used an abacus and followed the North Star.

LOL

[HarleyGrandma, RN, EMT-B]

I didn't grow up with computers either. When I took typing in high school we used these really new with great technology typewriters. They were the IBM Selectric typewriters. Yep, the were ELECTRIC!! No more typing too fast for the machine as those "old" type manual typewriters.

My father worked for IBM from the 1960's until after 2000. In the 80's they would let employees buy the old model Selectric pretty cheap after the new one came out. I remember typing term papers on that thing the first time I went to college*, and having to use the correction tape if/when you messed up!

*I just realized that when I went to college last time it was LAST CENTURY

[rnsrgr8t]

I grew up in the 80's. I remember our first family computer was the Apple II E. Anyone else remember that? With the weird green screen? I DID take typing in HS (big fight with my mom when she made me but am SO glad now) but it was on an Apple II gs. when I was in nursing school (20 years ago) I remember the dial up internet. My roommates and I all had only one phone line, so if someone was expecting a call or needed to use the phone you heard , "get off the computer!!!". Did not get a cell phone until after I graduated college.

Even 12 years ago when I was in grad school, I remember "splurging" for DSL internet (over dial up) b/c I needed the speed to be able to do my school stuff/research. I did not get WIFI until about 5 years ago??Cannot imagine not having it now.

Times they are a changing.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

Twitter is a fantastic source of comedy so I suggest you go for it. What was the statistic? Something like 60% of people who use Twitter never tweet so don't feel obliged that in order to participate tweeting is mandatory. There is some funny stuff on Twitter and it is delightful.

I'm 30. I kind of sort of grew up with computers. My father thought then (he still thinks) that he knew everything about getting up to date with the new technology and so he researched everything to death before finally pulling the trigger and getting our home a snazzy desktop. It was a classy-as-could-be HP something or other (whatever it was, it was HP plus something that doesn't exist anymore because HP bought it out). Then, he bought an eMachine from Wal-Mart. Whatever monitor came with that contraption blew up in my room one day and started smoking. Ever since then, I have come to completely mistrust electronics.

I figure I'm stuck in this weird limbo of being on the cusp of getting to grow up with all this stuff and still not quite being completely into it. I place a considerable amount of blame on how "connected" we are to why it feels like time has completely passed me by and why so many people make the same remark. I don't like it. But, I can't live without it. Twitter is just so funny.

They lost me at Snapchat.

[Kitiger, RN]

I'll date myself. I used a slide rule in high school.

My dad was an engineer. For his job he got the first calculator I ever saw when I was in high school. It cost >$1,000. It did addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. No memory. No square root. No other functions.

When I was in college and took my first computer class, we used key punches to create cards that were read into the computer. 6 or 7 hours later we got our print out back only to discover errors in our program. Back to the key punch. Read in cards. Wait 6 or 7 hours more. Repeat.

Interestingly at 84, dad is very computer literate. His brother at 94 is also very computer literate. Which shows you are never too old to learn.

I used a slide rule in my chemistry class. I found it a little hard to do, as my vision wasn't so great close-up. (I started wearing bifocals when I was 24, so I could see those tiny squares on the cardiac rhythm strips.) The key punch computers were a little before my time, probably when I was in grade school.

You say your dad is now very computer literate: there's hope for me!

[Kitiger, RN]

*I just realized that when I went to college last time it was LAST CENTURY

Same here!