From Covered Wagons to Facebook

I’ve always been taken aback at how quickly the Industrial Revolution changed America and the world. Laura Ingalls Wilder, born in 1867, crossed the prairie in a covered wagon as a girl and might have flown across the Midwest as an adult. (Whether she actually did or not, I have no idea.) To have seen the transportation industry make such massive progress in her lifetime must have been a source of amazement.

It dawned on me, however, that I have seen such progress in the communication industry. I’ve gone from talking on a party-line, rotary-dial telephone to texting on my smart phone. As a girl, I could only watch my favorite movies once a year when they came on TV. (And Katy bar the door if someone interrupted.) Music went from 45s to Pandora by way of albums, eight track tapes, cassettes, CDs, MP3s. When Bill and I first got married, nearly thirty-four years ago, we hosted a computer bulletin board service (BBS). Think really old, really slow chat room. It took days to have a conversation. Now, I’m posting on Facebook, pinning on Pinterest and taking pictures (via that smart phone) on Instagram.

Wonder what the next fifty years will bring?