Upgrades

by Beth Alexander Walsh

    

  I recently cleaned out a cabinet that housed an old CD/cassette player and receiver, along with boxes of cassette tapes that had not been used in decades. Those tapes were an eclectic bunch. Among the artists were Billy Joel, Elton John, The Eagles, The Pretenders, and Fleetwood Mac whose music would now be deemed “classic” or dare I say “oldies”. I’m not sure why I was saving them since most of the music had been replaced by cd or downloaded to an iPod. There were the swing band cassettes that I purchased for my mother’s 65th birthday party and cannot remember if I even used them. The singalong tapes reminded me of trips in the car with my young children, where our ears hung low; wobbled to and fro and the watermelon grew down by the bay. Even older were the compilation tapes I made while still living in my childhood home. That was a time consuming endeavor of taping from a vinyl record or waiting for that favorite song to be played by Casey Kasem on his Top 40 radio show. My brother and I spent many Saturdays recording our “free” music. I fingered through the box of musical memories while my husband patiently waited for me to conclude that I no longer needed cassette tapes. He then whisked the boxes to the recycling bin before I could change my mind.

     This past year I have been saying good bye to a lot of the obsolete in my life. At the end of last summer, I broke down and bought my first smartphone, but not because I wanted Apple’s latest and greatest. Quite the contrary!  I was very happy with my inexpensive “dumb” phone. My frustrated family and friends trying to include me in group texts however were not, so I gave in. Now I emoji and GIF with the best of them. Shortly after the new phone, I purchased a car with Bluetooth capability. I still have not completely figured out how to program key numbers but I can at least answer my phone.

    Christmas brought a brand-new laptop to replace my beloved six- year old bright pink HP with a seventeen-inch screen. It sputtered and rattled to life each time I turned it on, while constantly being tethered to a wall plug as the battery no longer worked. The new laptop sat in its box for weeks until I had time to overcome the learning curve of how to use it.  That same Christmas we said goodbye to our 2002 tubed Sony TV. The new Sony has twice the screen size and one third of the weight along with Wi-Fi capability.

     For me there is a slight fear of getting a new gadget to figure out. What if this time technology has advanced beyond my capacity to learn? At what point will I be unteachable? So far I have been able to manage, although I probably don’t use or even know all the capability of the electronics I own. My children, thank heavens, have been helpful with filling in my gaps of knowledge.

    As for the rest of the obsolete in my life, I still write dates on a large paper calendar on the side my fridge. I still write checks for paying bills (although that may change soon) and I will never give up my music CDs and vinyl. As for those cassettes in recycling, I snatched back three of them. Please don’t tell my husband!