At the risk of exposing my age [whatever — I'm 35], I remember that in the 11th grade, connecting to the Internet wasn’t as easy as ordering an overpriced latte, an overpriced piece of cake and peeling open a laptop. We literally used a telephone keypad, dialed a long string of numbers which literally connected you to the exact machine you were connecting to [even before the days of browsers!] and waited what felt like ages before finally, a message would slowly crawl up the page saying, “Welcome.” And if you wanted to see something on another server, you had to call that server directly.
Everything was nothing but words and numbers. Animated .gifs? Streaming video? Personal homepage? There were no such things, nor blogs, tweets, RSS feeds; not even pictures, sound or even color. Color! And if anyone had a webcam, it was Al Gore while he was developing the Internet.
It seems like it just happened overnight, though. One moment I’m debating on whether or not I should get a 14.4k modem or splurge on the 28.8k! Today you can get 6000k at home for nearly nothing or step into a cafe or bookstore and get more for free. You can even sit in Dupont Circle, on the Supreme Court steps, in Freedom Plaza, any DC library and soon on the Metro and some Metro bus stops! Actually, in the very near future we’re getting wireless Internet (WiMax) throughout the entire city of Washington DC!
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So, my dad sent me a webcam and within 10 minutes, I was looking at my mobile phone — waving it goodbye. It’s just a matter of time before Skype becomes a verb and the only people updating Facebook profiles are going to be the old heads, you know, we 30something-year-olds. Soon the mobile will be in a museum next to a cassette deck, a VCR and a Toyota.
And just like that, a melody chimed from my laptop; I clicked on a virtual button and with nothing pressed against my ear [I never could get into the Bluetooth], no mic needing to be held to my mouth and two free hands to update my Facebook profile, I wasn’t just conversing with my dad, I was looking at his glasses wondering if they just get darker in the sunlight or was he wearing shades indoors!? And I almost forget he could see me as I felt the urge to clear my nasal passages, considering I didn’t know what else to do with my spare hand which is so used to having to hold the phone after my shoulder quit.
After we hung up [is it hangup, disconnect or unSkype?], what the hell, I clicked a button and within minutes, not only am I looking at my brother thinking he should get a haircut, but I see my niece for the first time and she really needs a haircut! And they’re in Italy! And the call [is it still a call or a connect?] is free!
I haven’t even had time to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do with Twitter. Actually, I was just starting to wean myself from technology. I might check my Facebook every so many days, the BlackBerry has been retired, and I used a real mop instead of the Swifter for the first time since, well, since I can’t even remember but my floors are shiny and clean as opposed to just shiny.
Technology is racing by so fast that if you’re not careful, admitting you use Facebook tomorrow might be like admitting you still use BlackPlanet today. I just discovered this new thing on my postal mail avatar, Gmail, called Buzz. I asked it what the hell it was and my friend Adrienne pipes up inside my Gmail account! It’s Facebook meets Twitter meets you at the email box. No need to go anywhere to see what you’re friends are doing anymore. It used to be that if you wanted to know what someone was up to, you’d give them a call; now you just Buzz them in their email or Skype them and literally you can watch them, well, talk!
I don’t know. I keep unplugging my webcam so when people Skype me I just call them to tell them the mic and cam are disconnected. Sometimes they don’t seem as interested to talk. And then they rarely had anything to say anyway. It’s just the novelty of watching someone’s lips move when they talk, ironically, something we fail to do in person.
But, well, Skype is here. The excitement isn’t quite the same as when I got my first cell phone [anyone remember the Motorola StarTac?], but I will say, being able to take a bunch of pictures of my niece in real time while she’s in Italy is just priceless. No more wondering when bruh was going to post some new photos.
Now, if I could only figure out where Skype hid the photos on my hard drive.
