Entry tags:
Electronics
Scalzi has been asking questions of his commenters lately. This one got my attention.
When I was fifteen, in suburban 1983 Wisconsin, personal computers were only just starting to come into affordability, and there certainly wasn't one in our house. Neither did we have a television, nor any game console to use with the non-existent television. My father had a nice stereo, on which we listened to classical or ethnic music of his choice; occasionally one of the rest of the family would choose something, but he was the king of the stereo granting brief access to another.
I used the telephone relatively often (corded, hanging on the wall, second extension in the basement where I would go for privacy) to call my friends or receive calls from them, but even then I was not the "typical high-school girl" pictured spending hours each day on the phone.
My electronic toy of choice--or of default; it was the only one I had--was my clock radio. I could use it to listen to popular music, which given the preceding I did not have much knowledge of, and on some nights I could receive AM signals from as far away as Toronto. But mostly I listened to Milwaukee Brewer baseball games. I even kept hand-drawn tables and graphs of stats (see above re not having a computer).
Today’s question: When you were fifteen, what was your favorite electric or electronic object? These can be computers, toys, phones, televisions, game consoles, etc. You get the idea.
When I was fifteen, in suburban 1983 Wisconsin, personal computers were only just starting to come into affordability, and there certainly wasn't one in our house. Neither did we have a television, nor any game console to use with the non-existent television. My father had a nice stereo, on which we listened to classical or ethnic music of his choice; occasionally one of the rest of the family would choose something, but he was the king of the stereo granting brief access to another.
I used the telephone relatively often (corded, hanging on the wall, second extension in the basement where I would go for privacy) to call my friends or receive calls from them, but even then I was not the "typical high-school girl" pictured spending hours each day on the phone.
My electronic toy of choice--or of default; it was the only one I had--was my clock radio. I could use it to listen to popular music, which given the preceding I did not have much knowledge of, and on some nights I could receive AM signals from as far away as Toronto. But mostly I listened to Milwaukee Brewer baseball games. I even kept hand-drawn tables and graphs of stats (see above re not having a computer).