The most shocking part of aging has been the quick shifts in technology. It seems that every generation creates something new to awe the earlier group and it is a genuine improvement. Our cohort was part of this journey, entered it in the 50s and then saw things shift every decade. There are several ways to look at that. One is joy to get the new technology. Another though is the challenge to understand it and use it or afford it. In our cohort here are some of the changes we saw:
1940s
Our parents had seen a lot of improvements. The automatic wringer washing machine and the spin dryer made their lives easier.
1950s
1950 – Einstein publishes general field theory
1950 – the transistor radio was invented. Now we could carry music with us and not be limited to a set that plugged into the wall at home.
1951 – Atomic energy is used to make electric power in US
1951 – Betty Graham invents Liquid Paper, corrector fluid
1951 – plutonium is discovered
1952 – US rocket goes over 1600 mph
1952 – first hydrogen bomb is exploded in Pacific
1952 – Kodak brownie camera
1953 – DNA triple helix was discovered in medicine
1953 – Kodak developed high speed camera special paper
1953 – WD 40
1955 – only 20% of Alberta farms have electricity. Calgary did but we felt lucky
1955 – synthetic diamonds possible at 2700 degrees C
1955 – Velcro was developed. In my house though we still were lacing our shoes and did not adopt Velcro for years. Buttons to close jackets were the norm still.
1956 – Comet cleanser
1956 – first snooze alarm clock
1956 – Ion microscope
1956 – neutrino, atomic particle is found
1956 – Raid insect spray
1956 – Snooze alarm invented by General Electric
1956 – Transatlantic cable service is set up
1957 – John Glenn flies California to New York in 3 hours 23 minutes
1957 – Off!
1957 – US launches Sputnik – first earth satellite
1958 – Mr. Clean
1958 – nuclear submarine Nautilus goes under water to North Pole ice cap
1958 – Plastic wall plug
1958 – recording can now be done in stereo
1958 – RNA and DNA are synthesized
1958 – US launches first moon rocket
1958 – USSR launches two monkeys in rocket
1958 – USSR Lunik reaches the moon
1959 – long lasting alkaline batteries were produced
1959 – Princess telephone with lighted dial
1959 – Xerox 914 using plain paper
1959 – Xerox photocopiers were now able to use plain paper
1960s
1960 – first weather satellite studies clouds globally
1960 – Laser is developed
1960 – nuclear submarine Triton circumnavigates globe under water
1960 – radioactive carbon 14 is used for archaeological dating
1961 – Selectric typewriter – using typing ball not type bar – IBM
1961 – US astronaut Aan Shepard goes into space
1961 – Yuri Gagarin of USSR orbits earth
1961 -Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space (we were 12). It was a fascinating time.
1962 – a space probe went to the moon -Ranger 3. Scott Carpenter orbited the earth
1962 – first color supplements for newspapers
1962 – Telstar satellite is launched
1962 – US sends a probe to Venus
1962 – US, USSR and Britain have atomic reactors
1963 – compact cassette – Philips
1963 – cordless electric drill – battery powered – Black & Decker
1963 – push button telephone replaces rotary dial
1963 – quasars are discovered
1963 – The lava lamp was a new craze
1964 – 8 track cartridge
1964 – Astroturf
1964 – computer mouse has gear wheels and is of wood
1964 – IBM made a main frame operating system
1964 – Sharpie marker
1964 – world’s fair shows first video telephone
1964- computer mouse was invented
1965 – cordless telephone
1965 – house smoke detector
1965 – NASA launched a two person space flight . We watched on Ed Sullivan’s TV show a stand up comedian, Jose Jiminez, pretend to be a naïve astronaut. The character was created by Bill Dana.
1966 – Closed -circuit security camera with TV monitor
1966 – Wite-Out
1967 – Fantastik cleaner
1968 – Apollo 7 orbits earth for 11 days
1968 – Apollo 8 orbits moon
1968 – Jacuzzi whirlpool bath
1968 – massive power blackout in eastern Canada and NE United States
1968 – Pulsating radio waves (pulsars) are discovered
1968 – re -adhesive material -Post-it-Notes
1969 – Apollo 11 lands on moon. Armstrong walks on moon
1969 – Gluestick with twist up function
1969 – Supersonic Concorde flies
1969- The Moon landing happened (we were 20)
We were adult before we saw the next developments:
1970 – personal computer
1972 – the Polaroid land camera became increasingly popular to provide an instant picture from a folding camera.
The space race was particularly exciting for us. It seems like any children capsulize history as one large block_ where cavemen and Greeks, Elizabethan England and cowboy times were all quite close together. Each generation seems to see the future also as all one block and all pretty imminent . When someone went to space many of us felt that in our lifetime there would be huge exploration and even colonies up there.
Over time we saw the popularity of the console TV, the dial telephone, the slide projector and the overhead hair dryer – and then their replacement.
We had record players, type writers, adding machines, carbon paper, phone booths, 8 track tape, manual lawnmowers and cigarette vending machines. Then we saw all of those changes too.
In the 70s we saw the digital camera, the floppy disc, Post-it-Notes, email, GPS. It was only then that we had the crock pot, vego-o-0 matic and the Cuisinart food processor
In the 80s we saw compact discs, Nintendo Game boy, disposable cameras, DNA profiling, and the space shuttle. We had microwave ovens and Soda Stream
It was not till the 1990s (we were in our 40s) that we had DVDs, the world wide web, Google, Sony Play stations, CDRoms, bank teller machines, 3D graphics, hot air popcorn makers and automatic bread making machines.
It was not till the 2000s ( we were in our 50s) that we saw smart phones, USB flash discs, Bluetooth, Apple IPad, iTunes, Facebook and Twitter, artificial hearts, The Tesla Roadster and retinal implants
There were some oddities about these shifts. One was that things we had treasured and really saved up for, were in a few years obsolete. It was sad to see people no longer valuing the thing we had really loved.
In our youth a stereo cabinet was a treasure and often elegant, with a powerful AM FM radio on one side and a record player on the other. Then nobody wanted one. Records were replaced by cassette tapes, which were replaced by CDs and then by technology to put all your songs on a tiny memory stick.
Some of us with the pause of seniors looked at a few new things and did not jump on board. We said ‘wait a while’. My cohort did start to use celphones but some of us never did want the smart phone. The flip phone was good enough for phone calls and it was less tempting to lure us to always check the Internet. Styles of retro came back and things we had predicted would be big game changers were not. The Beta tape became outdated and the VHS tapes were the new thing but then were replaced by videodiscs. Those were not the final word though. The next generation were not even buying VCRs because they watched their movies on TV through services like Netflix and Crave.
But it is true that we were not all watchers In our cohort, some boomers were actually inventor. We have always each generation tried to ‘build a better mousetrap’.
The issue is with us generationally. In 1988 a student in the hostile university crowd wearing torn T shirt and barefoot, mocked Governor Ronald Reagan saying that it must be hard to understand this world with all the new technology. The university heckler said “You don’t understand your children..Your generation didn’t live at a time of instant electronics, of communication, of space travel”. Reagan listened patiently and when the heckler paused for breath he said “You’re absolutely right. We didn’t have those things. We were young. We invented them”.
Some of the slogans of the earlier eras still are endearing to me.
1927- the quality goes in before the name goes on – Zenith Radio Corp.
1943- We can do it- Westinghouse Electric
1944- When you care enough to send the very best _Hallmark Cards
1950- It takes a licking and keeps on ticking- Timex
1964- Let your fingers do the walking – Yellow Pages
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