Becoming Passe

Every day I feel a little more like I’m stuck in the past while the present is passing me by.

Yeah, I guess I’m officially getting old.

But if I could turn back the clock, it would be to the 1990s.

It just so happens that decade coincides with my 40s, so it was a time when I was definitely in my prime as a worker, a father and as a man.

And it was a time when I felt comfortable with the technology of the day. Heck, I could even program a VCR!

But let me take you back in time for a moment.

As the 1990s began, home computers were still relatively new, as was the Internet. Yes, there were cellphones, and all through the 90s people were buying them and impressing their cellphone-less friends with their techy coolness.

No longer did we have to use beepers or message machines or have to find a phone booth to take or make a call or check our messages from outside our home.

Ewwww…phone booths? Remember those, anyone older than my car? In the wake of COVID, the thought of using a phone booth makes us cringe. But at the time, we had no fear of grabbing that phone and putting it right next to our mouth…ewwww…

Today, it’s nearly impossible to find a working phone booth, even if you could disregard who might have been using it right before you….ewwwww…

I was always a big fan of email — still am today. But I’m learning from friends that email is on its way out or is already dead.

I mean, who has time to check email when you can TEXT?

You know, that really fun, tiny key-pushing form of communication that’s practically “instant”?

I hate to text, so I fear that I’m slowly losing touch with everyone who simply must maintain “real time” communication throughout the day.

And then there’s our entertainment media. Remember VHS tapes and cassettes? Now, it seems that even CDs are becoming passe, as more and more people just download music and store it all on their smartphones.

Yes, that handy smartphone that came into our lives in 2007 and now is the focal point of our very existence.

Everywhere I look I see people staring at their smartphones, mesmerized by social media and apparently appreciating the way it keeps them from having to make eye contact with strangers.

OK, by this time, I can almost see your eyes rolling and hear you thinking, “This guy is so stuck in the past. He needs to get on board the future train or be left behind…”

Well, there IS one more thing that has definitely become passe:

Me.