Tik Tok Goes the Clock

Trends are forever coming and going. Tablets started out on stone, then paper, and now electronics. I never thought I'd have to admit this, but I'm not keeping up with the times. Technology has been advancing so fast that my head is spinning like an Olympic skater.

Originally, computers took up an entire room just to play Tic Tac Toe and do mathematical computations. When my middle school got its first Apple, classmates waited in line to play Oregon Trail. We held our collective breaths waiting for the dot matrix printer to inform us of our fates. Anyone else remember the back-and-forth printing? No? I may be the only endangered dinosaur on Vocal.

When I started teaching music eons ago, we used LP records. That’s “Long Play,” for those of you who aren’t of my era, like what rappers use for scratching. The worst were cassette tapes. Imagine trying to fast forward and/or rewind to find the beginning of a song. Stop. Play. No, too far. Rewind. Stop. Play. Too far… 10 times a class period, 6-8 times per day. It was a relief when CDs came out. Now, many of my lessons utilize the internet. At least I am able to keep up with YouTube!

Now, with our tiny, mobile phones, we can place calls, text, take photos and videos, research, and play games. Gone are the days when one can clap along at a concert, because everyone is hanging onto a phone for pictures, videos, and waving in flashlight mode.

I gave up the battle between Nintendo and PlayStation long ago. I used to be great at Tetris, the key words being “used to.” What do people play now? I hear talk of Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and Call of Duty. Younger people seem to favor Fortnite, Minecraft, Among Us, and Roblox. Me? I play a word game. See? Out of touch.

A student once told me that Facebook is for old people. Jeez, I racked up 1,939 friends, and have 219 unanswered requests. I guess I can live with being old. At least I can stay in touch with people far and wide. Also, I get to meet awesome writers, so Facebook gets my thumbs up.

Now, there are endless Apps and websites. How am I faring with them? Um, you decide.

Twitter? What am I, a bird? How do I know what to “tweet?” Who’s listening, a bunch of cats waiting to pounce? No, thank you.

Tik Tok? As if I don’t feel the hands of time passing without a program reminding me.

Snapchat? Do I really want to converse with a crocodile?

Instagram? What is that, a weight loss program? I think I’d like to lose more than a gram, although the instant part sounds pretty good!

Goose Chase? Okay, I must admit that I am competitive, so I got caught up with this one, scoring big for more than one winning team. We had to have a way to stay sane and move around a bit during quarantine. A+ on that one!

We now have touch screens, robotic vacuums, computers which can understand verbal commands, facial recognition software, and cars which can park themselves. I hear they are developing smart glasses, which are supposed to adjust to your vision based on your focal point. What’s next? Fully automated childcare? Direct brain/computer interface? Total seclusion, with only online work? Oh yeah, that just happened.

Until I am headed to the great beyond, I guess I had better get out a device and Google the latest Tik Tok trends so that my students won’t look at me with “poor, pathetic, prehistoric person” pity expressions.

I’ll consult my specialist – my 8-year-old grandson.

Look at me! I did a Gif. I think David Hasselhoff just said, "Good!"