What’s ten years to one person?

It's funny when I consider the things that I own now and then look at the things I only dreamed of when I was growing up. For example, an iPod. Something that can actually hold digital versions of every CD I own, plus thousands more songs that can be accessed in just seconds, holds playlists, can shuffle anything and everything and can be carried with me wherever I go without any additional trouble. Such a device when I was in my teens was unimaginable to me. I remember always wanting something that was portable that could play more than just a few CDs worth of music. I got a discman when I was 16 that I used for my last two years of high school so 45 minutes on a bus each way was filled with music but only whatever I felt like bringing with me that day. So if I wanted variety, I'd have to bring my CDs with my in addition to my discman.

When I was even younger, and more TV obsessed than I am now, I dreamed of having a TV screen in the car imbedded in the seat in front of me when I sat in the backseat. That would make those longer car rides slightly more reasonable being able to watch cartoons. Today, I have the option to bring my MacBook or iPhone with me to do that.

Even more modern things such as computer file organization and website development advancements that I have learned in recent years would have blown my mind and saved me many hours back at the end of the 90s and early 2000s. Even simply having a laptop would have been a big deal while I was in university (the first time) rather than relying on taking notes and ensuring I remained organized with my papers and notebooks.

What I do find odd is that while I can imagine my younger self not having these convenient technological devices but imagining their existence with my young mind, it's rather difficult to imagine a time before Facebook. Not that I'm personally relient on Facebook to get through my everyday life but as a means of minor socialization, keeping up to date with people that otherwise I would only see when running into them coincidentally on the street, it is something that has become imbedded in everyday life as both a way to keep up with acquaintances or to just read thoughts, ideas and perspectives of whoever we are "friends" with. But then I *do* think back to what it would have been like to have Facebook in high school.

Things would be so much different. Because I can remember a time when they didn't exist, I'm definitely appreciative of these time-saving and useful(-in-their-own-way) devices because I know how helpful they truly are but at the same time, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to grow up with these things already. Would I be able to appreciate them the same knowing what it's like to have to carry CDs and a discman (or cassettes and a walkman), have to sit through a car ride counting the trees and poles until I get home and having to manually sift through text files looking for something specific while having to write out old HTML character-by-character with limitations based on what most modems can handle. I can only imagine what conveniences will exist in ten years from now. No really, I can imagine because if there's something I wish existed now, it most likely will soon.