I Hope I Live Long Enough...

...to see the next generation of change. No, I'm not planning on leaving Earth any time soon. Volunteering at a recycling site earlier this month made me think of this.

When I looked at some of the electronic waste coming in for recycling, it hit home to me -- again -- how much things have changed. Someone brought in an IBM selectric typewriter. Boy, I wanted one of those when I was in my 20s. They were the Rolls Royce of electric typewriters. Now they are junk.

Similarly, I was working at another recycling site a year or so ago and someone recycled a bag cell phone. I had one long ago when I was commuting to a job in another city 50ish miles away. It was the latest and greatest thing back then -- I had the very first iteration of them -- and it wasn't cheap. And you could not rely on having any sort of signal to make a call.

The college students working with us that day were interested and amazed at the bag phone - they couldn't believe it. Had to admit, I felt a bit old!

With my grandparents, it was going from riding horse and buggy to riding in cars. With my parents, it was going from listening to the radio to watching TV. My generation and beyond has had to deal with cell phones, e-books, computers and more.

So what will be next? Time will tell. It will be interesting to watch!