Growing up in the 70s and 80s had many new digital advancements, I guess I am dating myself!
I was fortunate to experience many of them.
My walkman: Making mixed tapes!
My Typewriter: Always making mistakes and needing to start over AGAIN!
Beta Machine: Recording a movie, then accidentally recording over it! đ
In the early 80s, my very first digital technology experience was when my brother and I got our Intellivsion II! It was a Christmas present and parents had my relatives from the USA to ship it here to Canada! We were one of the first to have one!! We played it for hours!!
Today I am not a gamer and I have very few games on my iPad, but having something before anyone else still is a part of me. I am the âgadget girlâ! I am the person in the family who always have the latest and greatest digital technology. It has also filtered into the classroom, where I am the teacher who asks the administration for the âtechie stuffâ and I know my students appreciate the innovating digital tools to enhance their learning.
Images:
console:Â http://www.8-bitcentral.com/mattel/intellivisionIIImages.html
games:Â https://www.retrogamer.net/top_10/top-ten-intellivision-games/
Hi Mary,
when looking at your pictures, I remember all the old games on my C64 … simple games, but yes, we played for hours! It seems to me now that the idea of a game is often more important than a visually appealing presentation …
Elske
I remember being captivated for hours by moving my player just up the stairs. So new and innovating.
I loved my bright yellow walkman that I would listen to mixed tapes on. My sister and I would listen to them on all of our road trips with our family. Then we upgraded to our little portable handheld CD players that would skip more than it didn’t!
Thanks for sharing Mary!
This is how techie I was, I put my walkman up to my ghettoblaster and tape songs from the radio. You would have to time it “just right” to ensure you did not get the DJs voice in the recording.
Hey Mary, it’s interesting to hear how getting the Intellivision early made such an impact on you, and in such a fascinating way! Do you think it really was this machine that helped instilled this desire to be “first” in you, or do you think that would have been there without it? Or is it impossible to differentiate?
I’m also a real “techie” type but I hit a lot of walls at my job. The admin doesn’t really have their finger on the pulse, so to speak. Got any recommendations for the recent tools you’ve been using??
Scott
Hello Scott!
Nice to see a familiar face! I think just having something first before anyone else was instilled in me…unfortunately I am Apple fan! I just could not cough up $1000 for iPhone X, but a new iPad (12.9) is in the works!
As far a new techie stuff! I try to bring “old school” back into my classroom! I have CD disk player, a tape recorder, a speak n’ spell, old calendars and my students love the Lite Brite (not so “techie”).
~Mary
I love that you reminded me of the walkman! I forget to think of those standard items as being “technology”. I was the kid who would have looked over fence admiringly at you for your RAD game. I never had a gaming console of my own as a child and would relish the afternoons I could play the Atari at a friends house. But I did have a walkman and was the QUEEN of mixed tapes. I would spend hours crafting the perfect playlist for the specific use. It is an interesting reminder that just because it doesn’t plug in or light up that it is still technology. I love that!
If you could pick your one favorite tech addition to your classroom this last year what would it be and why?
Trish
Hello Trish,
Low Tech items are sometimes the most memorable technological memories! As I mentioned to Scott, I try to bring “old school” tech items into my classroom. Like an “old view finder” beside a VR Google Box! It is great to see how the students compare!
~Mary
That’s a really neat way to show connections to the students with a simple hands-on demo. Well done!
Hi Mary. Some of those game pictures bring back old memories of Q-Bert and others. I remember my grandfather playing ski-run with a joystick (moving only the base, not the had-grip!) – hilarious! Walkmans were all the rage in high-school and were meant to be seen as a status symbol, not like these ipods that noone even knows you have today…
When did our games and tech have to be so complicated. I swear those early games were just as much fun as the high-graphic, first person, massive file games of today. Ultimately games just have to be relatable and fun to be effective, not complicated!
David,
Oh David…I had the best walkman!! It was also attacked to my ghettoblaster! I concur, less complicated technology back than!
Mixed tapes — I remember doing that too. The good old days when I had to walk to school and it was uphill going to and from school.
Christopher
Hello Christopher,
Did you break the tabs on the sides of your tapes, so no one accidentally taped over them? That was high tech!