By JACK GODBEY

Community columnist

Here we are once again starting out with not only a brand new year but also a brand new decade. It seems like only yesterday that the clock was ticking over from 1999 to the year 2000 and the whole country was in a panic thinking that the computers were going rise up and destroy us. That seems like only a short time ago, but has now been 20 years ago.  

It seems that many things have changed over the last 20 years. One of which, due to technology, is that today we don’t seem to memorize anyone’s phone number anymore. At one time, I could rattle off the numbers of most of my friends and family. Today, I am lucky to be able to recite my own number and have to stop and think a moment when someone asks for it. 

Back in the year 2000, I was just getting my mind wrapped around using CDs instead of cassettes. I was walking around with my flip phone in one pocket and my iPod in the other desperately trying to hold on to the past and trying to avoid alternative music harder than if it had been diagnosed with the flu.  

Connecting to the internet meant waiting a good 10 minutes for a connection and if anyone in the house picked up the phone, you had to start all over again. Today, people scan the internet, talk on the phone and watch episodes of Game of Thrones all at the same time. A good weekend back then consisted of going to Blockbuster and renting some movies and watching them on my DVD player and updating the Myspace profile. Today most all music is streamed over the internet and everything I do is stored on the cloud. I am still not exactly sure where this supposed cloud is located, but if I ever find it it’s supposed to have all sorts of things stored there for me.

In the year 2000, my phone only had 250 minutes on it and each text I sent charged me a quarter. I must say that I now enjoy texting. It’s my preferred method of communication. However, texting has caused people to not be able to spell anymore. I received a text the other day from someone and I literally had no idea what they were talking about. Everything was just a bunch of abbreviations such as BTW and SMH.  

When I responded that I didn’t know what they were trying to say they just responded with ROTFL. I still have no idea what they were trying to say. It reminds me of the way they tried to force the metric system on me back when I was a child. To this day, the only metric measurement I know is the liter because that is the way I buy soda. 

When the year 2000 arrived, it felt very futuristic and would bring everything to life that I had seen in an episode of The Jetsons, complete with flying cars and robot servants. Now that time is considered ancient history and I still haven’t seen any flying cars yet. 

One thing for sure is that time waits for no one. The clock keeps ticking on, whether we are ready for it or not. As hard as it may be to keep up sometimes, I actually don’t regret growing older. There are many who were never given the opportunity. 

 

Jack Godbey is a resident of Danville and is a published author. He can be reached at wizardman66@live.com.