This past week David Pogue (see note below) wrote an article about the sounds of technology fading around us. The sound of a record album as it moves around the turntable, the dial tone of a telephone still connected to a plain old telephone systems (POTS). The busy signal, replaced by voice mail and call waiting. The sound of a camera shutter, replaced by a simulated shutter sound on your digital camera and phone. Pogue's point is that we have been replacing these analogue sounds with the sound of silence or in some cases to please the old folks a simulated sound. Based on this inspiration I thought I would take a look back at some other nostalgic items, some which have simply been replaced by newer technology and others just changed by inflation.
The Bank Teller appears to be a job that is slowly fading away. Self service technologies have slowly replaced this once presedgous job. Automatic Teller Machines were the first technology that started this slow migration from a human personal touch to automation, but what has recently fascinated me is the ability to make deposits directly from your mobile device. Take a picture of both sides of a check and presto the amount is deposited. I guess there will be a time when bank tellers will be a memory.
I remember when AM Radio was the only choice. AM 770 WABC with Cousin Brucie (showing my age here) was the station I would listen to. I had a little transistor radio and could tune the dial to different frequencies. Eventually replaced by FM radio I remember hearing this in stereo and music coming out of two speakers. I then purchased a larger radio with an antenna and could listen to various stations. It also had a cassette deck so I could record songs off the radio. I have now replaced FM radio with satellite radio for the car and streaming radio stations on my computer. I am not sure what the fate of over the air radio will be. I suspect it will be around for awhile. However, streaming radio is available in some cars and I suspect that "radio" will eventually be replaced by some form of personal choice system like streaming, where people will have a choice between free with commercials and paid without commercials.
The Hand Written Letter has all but disappeared. I can not even remember the last time I received a letter in the mail. On occasion I will get a postcard or a hand written thank you note and during Christmas we'll receive some cards with handwritten notes. Replaced by email, then instant messaging and now text messaging, written communications is more of an art now. Even when you receive an email, most of the emotion is absent, replaced by people's urgency to get their message written and sent. Use of descriptive colorful adjective is out, replaced by simple facts. My mother still writes letters to her nieces in Detroit and Ohio in script, filled with descriptive words and sealed with love. I hope they appreciate receiving these lost pieces of art.
In New York State (where I live) we had a few snow storms that required clearing of the driveway and walkways around my house. I remember when I was younger a bunch of us kids would walk around the neighborhood making money shoveling driveways. Now that I am older I am looking for those kids, but alas they are no where to be found. Replaced by inexpensive snow blowers and adults with trucks asking for a lot more than the $5.00 I use to get as a kid. Maybe it is just the place I live or maybe kids don't need money because they get everything they want from their parents, but it seems to me its a good way to still make some fast money.
Their used to be store in every neighborhood called 5 and 10 cent store. Replaced by Dollar Stores and put out of business by increased rents and shopping malls, you could get almost anything in a 5 and 10 cent store. One the counter use to be a big jar of Bazooka Joe bubble gum. Each piece was one penny and you could almost always count on mom or dad buying you a piece. Each piece came with a comic strip. They blew perfect large bubbles and lasted for a long time. Eventually inflation took hold and then went to 2 cents then 5 cents. I don't know how much they cost now, but it sure brings back good memories of trips to the 5 and 10 cent store.
Did you ever have a doctor come to your home? They called these visits "House Calls" and doctors use to come to your house when you were sick. This was before insurance or HMO's or malpractice suits. Way back when doctors really cared and could spend quality time with their patients. Back when I was around 8 I remember Dr. Gilday coming to our house when my sister or I were sick. He had a black bag, cold stethoscope and gentle bedside manner. He would check us out, prescribe a home remedy and be on his way. My mother would pay him cash and in a few days we would be fine. We would sometimes go to his office to follow-up. Good news is after many years of absence, the house calling doctor is making a comeback. According to a USA Today report there are about 4,000 doctors who make house calls in the United States. I hope this trend will continue to grow, especially for the elderly who find it hard to get to a doctors office.Of course I could go on and on about days gone by and the things we miss about them, but I won't. I think it is important to remember the past, but we all must live in the present and can only fondly remember the good old days. There is a Jamaican musician named David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley who is the the oldest son the great Bob Marley, the reggae musician. On his album Dragonfly there is a song titled Good Old Days with the line "let's cherish these moments that we now know these be the good old days."
Contributions:
David Prouge The Fading Sounds of Analog Technology
David Pogue writes the tech column for the New York Times every week, and in Scientific American every month. On TV, you may know him from his funny tech videos on CNBC every Thursday, or his stories for CBS Sunday Morning, or the NOVA miniseries he hosted on PBS, called "Making Stuff."
David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley - Dragonfly Track 9 Good Old Days
I remember house calls (Dr. Ross, who was around long enough to be the pediatrician for both of my kids, and in fact was present at Brett's delivery), Cousin Brucie, and I remember when they built the new bank in town, long, long before ATMs were invented and before the tellers had to be protected behind 3-inch-thick plexiglass walls.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still occasionally get something hand-written: As a ham, we still exchange QSL cards, though there are, like everything else, modern replacements for that as well.