CROW’S FEET WRITING PROMPT #91-Old Fashioned Way

Old Technology Was Good Enough

Until new technology came along…right?

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

When I consider the old fashioned way of doing things, I immediately think of technology. Like many Boomers, I’ve lived through mind-boggling technological changes. The IBM Personal Computer (PC) wasn’t even introduced until 1981 and the Apple Macintosh didn’t say “hello” until 1984. The World Wide Web didn’t exist until 1993.

Writing has played an integral role in my life and my career, so I have always looked at the direct impact of new technology on the process of writing. Before digital technology arrived, for example, written communication was paper-based—even the language we used, such as “putting pen to paper,” defined writing.

I recall writing notes on yellow pads the old fashioned way and then finalizing documents using old technology — a typewriter. Thankfully, I took a typing course in school and became quite adept at it. If I made a mistake typing something, I would “white it out.” I remember using carbon paper to make duplicate copies of what I typed when copiers weren’t widely available yet.

I was wowed by the electric typewriter when it became available, and more so by the IBM Selectric; that marvelous machine used little…