ASK A YOOPER: Got technology whiplash? A trip in the wayback machine is in order

Not too long ago, at least by baby-boomer standards, there were no smart phones — not even analog cellular “bag phones.” You millennials look that one up. There was no Internet and going back a few more years, not even remote control for your television or stereo. I take that back. There were remote controls for practically any electronic device — they were called kids!

Our television was the size of a chest freezer. Covered in a rich, cherry wood finish, but constructed of pine, it had a whopping 27-inch screen and two channel selection dials. One dial got you channels 2-13 and the second 14-83. Not that there was something on every channel by any means. Although cable existed, in the Detroit suburbs where I grew up we had an impressive eight-channel lineup to choose from every night. Most of those stayed on until around 2 a.m. But yes, I still remember the “Star Spangled Banner” being played at signoff and first thing when the station came back on the air.

When I was a young pup, Bell Telephone ruled the roost. A cell didn’t refer to telecommunications, it dealt with the structure that makes up living organisms. I remember getting our first wall-mounted “Slim-line,” push-button telephone on a private line. No more picking up the clunky, rotary dial base unit with a separate handset and having to check and see if the neighbor’s mom was tying up the party line. Long distance phone calls were not commonplace, and they ranged from expensive to very expensive.

Depending on the time of day and the day of the week, rates ran as much as 35-40 cents per minute. To bring that into perspective, that works out to about $2 per minute in today’s dollars. “Reach out and touch someone” was AT&T’s motto. If you had family far away and were lucky, you got to do that to them a couple times a year — usually around the holidays.

Yup, no cell phones, no computers, no virtual reality, no video games. I take that back, my dad bought my brother and I a pong game in about 1977. The Magnavox Odyssey 100. Released circa 1975, it touted itself as “America’s most exciting home video game.” It hooked up to the TV similar to today’s video consoles. No separate controllers — they were built in to the unit — and there wasn’t even a color screen. It was a multi-game device giving users a choice of pong, tennis or hockey, although you could hardly tell the games apart!

Cheap airfare was nonexistent and it was a luxury if you got to fly at all. When you did, the rear of the plane was where everyone went to smoke cigarettes. There was no NSA pilfering through your luggage, no pat-downs or taking off your shoes. No body scanners or metal detectors. You could run in off the street and straight to your departure gate where someone checked your ticket and you boarded. Once onboard — and slightly into your flight, they served real meals at no charge.

It was the summer of 1977. I had just started my first job at Taco Bell. I drove a 1972, lime green, Chevy Vega hatchback with moon rings on the tires. The first thing I would do on payday was cash my check and head to E.J. Korvette department store and buy the latest eight-track. For anyone born before the turn of the century, an eight-track was a clunky cassette — never mind, you probably don’t even know what a cassette is! In 1983, my dad and brother got me a compact disc player for Christmas, along with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony CD. The sound quality floored me, but again I’m showing my age here.

As usual, I digress...People used a writing implement to pen something called a letter. There was no email. Kids didn’t know how to type, I mean on a keyboard, until they took typing class in high school. And writing code? The only code I wrote as a kid was the zip code on an envelope. Now I hear talk that some of America’s public schools no longer plan to even teach cursive writing?

Geezus...am I starting to sound like my dad when he was my age? I think worse!

Okay...let’s keep plugging along here. Communication was easy. When you wanted to call someone, you were tethered to a copper phone line. You were sitting in your living room or putting a dime in the payphone — anyone familiar with those? Your other choice was to write a letter — pick up a pen or pencil, a piece of paper or three, and go to town. Putting your thoughts to words in that fashion seems a more intimate undertaking. It took time to write a letter, and putting forth an effort, unlike banging out a few sentences and hitting “send” on the keyboard.

Today, instant global communication is a given. Facebook Live, Skype, smart phones, tablets, laptops. A cheap “throw away” smart phone has more technology built into it than what NASA used in 1969 to get man on the moon. Even here in America’s “Last Frontier,” it’s difficult to get away from the high-tech world we live in. But when you can, doesn’t it feel wonderful?

Contact Frontiersman reporter Chris Ford at chris.ford@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.