When I Was Your Age...

I received a cheerful email from Verizon yesterday that informed me that I am eligible for an upgrade (Yay!) and, therefore, a new iPhone (um, uh Yay...?)

That made me think of the my childhood.  When I was a kid I, like every other kid, wanted the newest and the latest.

The newest bike, the latest record, the neatest and coolest sneakers.

But I have come to, in my senior years (ha!) to see "new" as nothing more than advertising baloney.

I understand that the iPhone and it's ilk can do amazing things.  Like pretend to be a beer or popcorn or be a flashlight.  It can also, incidentally, be a phone and a letter writer.

The touchscreen is a pain for those of us with larger, fatter fingers.  It is very easy to misspell any word by simply hitting the wrong key.  I confess to owning a Blackberry.  My teenage daughter has informed me that nobody really emails anymore, they all text, and that Blackberrys are so, well, so very "elderly."  Thanks for that.

So here goes for those of you over 60.

When I was a kid we had:

Black and white television
Black and white photography
78 rpm records
One, black, rotary dial telephone
Manual typewriters
Carbon paper
The word "gay" meaning "happy"
Compromise in Congress
Heroes

We didn't have:

The Beatles
The Internet
Cell phones
DVDs
iPods
Bottled water
McDonalds
Labradoodles
Flat screen televisions
Cable
The Kardashians

I'm just sayin'...