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Famous philosopher and author Marshall McLuhan, in 1967 before computers or the Internet were even dreamed of, claimed that, “The medium, or process, of our time - electric technology is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically every thought, every action, and every institution formerly taken for granted.” His claims were at the time thought to be outlandish and far off, but look at us now in 2010. We are a nation of consumers that has reshaped our entire social interdependence and every aspect of our social life around the newest and greatest technology. Be it the newest smart phone technology or a hyped-up Internet craze, the times they are a changin.

It seems as though technology is dispensable in our digital savvy society where everyone is looking for newest and greatest technology, so I wanted to take sometime to pay tribute to our fallen technological soldiers by counting down the five best/most memorable digital devices and technological crazes plus their 2010 replacements.

In no specific order:
1. Cassette tapes. Okay maybe it is just me but I miss those cute rectangular little buggers that fit so nicely into the boombox I begged my mother for. Not to mention they work great for recording music off of my favorite radio station, little did I know that at age 8 I was committing quite the piracy crime.

Replacement: The MP3, with the ability to surf the Internet for songs you like there is not waiting around while you fast forward through a cassette tape trying to get to just the right place on the tape, or in my case waiting for Kube 93.3 to play your jam.

2. Duck Hunt: a video game for Nintendo in which players use the Zapper to shoot ducks on screen for points.

Replacement:  Duck Hunt was awesome, but so is it’s replacement, the Wii The Wii took the idea of the controller moving with the user to a whole new level.

3. 35mm film: used for photography and in films. editors would take the original film used to shoot the movie or photograph and edit the film directly.

Replacement: It is all about the digital baby, with programs such as Final Cut Pro and Avid available there are a million more possibilities than before.  

4. Home phone lines, pre-caller id: how exciting being able to pick up the phone and have no idea who was on the other line, its like a surprise with every ring.

Replacement: cell phones with caller id: I guess sometimes the element of surprise is not too exciting, as there are some people you do not really care to talk.

5. Napster: was a free file sharing service that became a pay service after some issues with copyright.

Replacement: websites such as Pandora and Grooveshark are a positive alternative that make listening to music more convenient as you can choose a song and form playlists to listen to instantly as many times as you would like.

So here is to you our fallen heroes and to our hot newcomers!

Posted via email from Zooppa