Then: Transistor Radios – Now: iPods

Then:  Transistor Radios

Now:  iPods

The other day my granddaughter asked me to play her favorite song while we were driving in the car.  I told her I can’t make the radio play her song, that we would just have to wait for it to come on—although I doubted that any station I listened to would play the “Cock-a-doddle-doo” song.

She protested, saying that her mommy plays it in their car.  Well, her mommy has an iPod with about 1,000 of their “favorite” songs.  She takes her iPod everywhere.  With the touch of her finger, she can play any song she wants, anytime, anyplace.

You can engage in foreplay with your partner for a longer time and that is to avoid the extinction of mankind. cialis samples Buy kamagra tablets from our online pharmacy in bulk and have cheap tadalafil been found to work exceedingly well in all circumstances. Many of the men will hesitate to order viagra online http://secretworldchronicle.com/tag/red-djinni/ speak openly with their doctors about their concerns, treatment options and recommendations related to their specific case. 100mg viagra online http://secretworldchronicle.com/2019/02/ep-9-22-interlude-the-snake/ On a final note, Both the medications contain Sildenafil Citrate which helps in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. This got me to thinking back to those beach days so long ago, when I’d hang out with my friends listening to music on our transistor radios.  We couldn’t choose what to listen to and in fact, anticipation was half the fun.  Sipping soft drinks, moving our towels as the sun crossed the sky (God forbid, we weren’t directly facing that big ball of heat), and waiting for a song by the Beatles or the Stones or Simon and Garfunkle.

The DJ would announce a song was coming up in the next half hour, and we’d listen, as a group, yapping happily about the important things in life, such as boys and clothes and music and boys.  We’d listen to the DJ talk about life as we knew it, and when our favorite songs came on, we’d lie back, close our eyes and drift into our own private thoughts.

Today, when I’m at the beach I look around and it seems that everyone is plugged into her own musical device, not talking to each other at all.  Not having that shared experience of waiting anxiously for a great new song.  And not only at the beach.  Everywhere.  At the gym, walking down the street, in the grocery store, in line at the post office.  You can buy a song off iTunes, download it into your iPod and take it everywhere you go.  That is, as long as you keep your iPod charged.

Back then, even if we wanted to take our favorite song with us, we would have had to take an entire album or cassette tape.  There was no way to buy just one song.  Which forced us to listen to an entire album, where sometimes a real gem of a song would be discovered.

Sometimes waiting for something can be a good thing.  It’s all about patience and in this fast moving world of ours, patience is something that a lot of the younger generation doesn’t understand.  Everything moves so quickly.  We can send a message to Paris in one second and get an answer in two.  We are constantly plugged in, wired up, and instantly gratified.  Work follows us everywhere, even into the bathroom.  Yes, I’ve been known to talk on my cell phone to a banker while…well, you get the picture.

So, I told my granddaughter, she would have to be patient. We’d just have to listen to the old fashioned radio and wait for her song to come on.  And in the meantime…we could make up our own songs.  And you know what?  We had a great time, sharing, laughing and communicating with each other.  Isn’t that what life’s all about?

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3 Responses to Then: Transistor Radios – Now: iPods

  1. LindaO says:

    As one who hasn’t yet caught up with technology, I identify with what you said, Janie. On the other hand, I do like those devices I’ve learned to deal with–and patience isn’t my strong point!

  2. Tina F says:

    Waiting for our favorite songs to come on was half the fun of the radio…in fact, especially when a song that you had earmarked as “my song” came on. It was like being birthday girl for 3 minutes.

    Thanks for these memories!

  3. Terry T says:

    Janie, you are so good at bringing us back to “the days”. I fear we now sound like our parents. But truth be known our parents probably had good points too, we just had to get older to understand. I do think our progress moved faster (maybe unfortunatly). Keep up the good work expressing what most of us feel and are in fear of saying. Yay for the sixties, we were so lucky to be part of it.
    Love your writing!!

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