Don’t Carry Me Back to the Days before Computers

February 28, 2024

Do you remember your first computer?

What an exciting time it was. Circa 1980. Roughly 44-45 years ago now.

But let’s go back a step further. Did you learn to type on an old-fashioned typewriter? I never realized commercial typewriters go way back to another century, when commercial typewriters were introduced in 1874. Wow, I had no idea they’ve been in use that long. My ancient (but beloved) grandmothers and grandfathers were born in that era.

So I learned to type in high school as did many others at that time. I enjoyed it. We typed on typewriters where you pushed the carriage back to do another line of work by slapping your hand on the carriage-return lever on the far left. You pushed it to the right to return the carriage to its starting position. Wikipedia reminds us that this made “the platen” go around which advanced your paper vertically. “A small bell was struck a few characters before the right-hand margin was reached to warn the operator to complete the word and then use the carriage-return lever.” Oh my. I had forgotten about that small bell-y thing ringing.

My mom worked in an office using typewriters of the day in the 1940s, which she enjoyed very much. She kept her small cheap typewriter up until the time she began to get rid of things in her 90s, circa 2020. 

I’m told that old fashioned (to us in the U.S.) typewriters are still used in countries like India or Africa where electricity sometimes cannot be counted on to be reliable. We have a travel agent in our city who swears by still using an electric typewriter to type certain parts of the paperwork he prepares for your travel because of the precise information he has to include, and the narrow spaces he has to put it in.

When I got my first job after college, I worked in an office with a typewriter which by that time created words from a ball containing the letters and punctuation marks rather than the individual keys striking the ribbon of the 1800s and 1900s.

But I digress. I remember sitting down to my first electronic keyboard (like I’m doing right now) and being “forced” to learn a whole new way of typing from a visiting trainer. I remember when we would accidentally slap our hand to return the typewriter lever, which was no longer there or needed. It was gone. That required relearning much of what we had learned in high school about typing. Of course, the “Qwerty” set up of letters was (thankfully) carried over to the modern keyboard which my fingers know as naturally as the act of brushing my teeth. But I remember some of my older colleagues who hated the new keyboards, and called the machine we had to use “The Monster.” I found said monster to be rather exciting and soon was at home with it.

But my first true “home” computer was not purchased by my husband and I until roughly 1985, I think. We bought an Apple computer from a small business in town, and I remember sitting in that office and being so excited to get our first home computer. I had been using a manual typewriter at home (typing rough drafts of my first books which I later paid a secretary to retype because she was a super excellent and fast typist and loved doing that work at home). But by that time we had children approaching school age and I knew that they would be eventually learning to write on school computers and it would be handy and forward-thinking to have a computer at home. 

Learning to use new forms of communicating are constantly changing, right? Which can be frustrating to us “golden years folks.” The extra keys on the modern keyboard include the ability to “Print a Screen Shot” and much more. They correct mistakes as you make them or let you, or prompt you, to choose better grammar. The F5 key on my laptop lets you find and replace things. And much more. I love watching bankers or perhaps accountants using the little numerical keyboard off to the right of the keyboard without looking at the numbers, and they do so perfectly. Me, not so much.

Eventually we moved on from our first Apple to Dells or HPs and other brands and I sometimes wish we had stuck with Apples. Oh well, too old now to change that and now we’re in the age of “AI.” The next twenty years will bring many more innovations. Little chatty people show up on my screen without my even asking them like one did right now, an HP product specialist wondering if I “need help selecting the right configuration” with a photo of her saying “Let’s Chat!”

Not right now, thanks. I “x” her out of my ‘puter. Which reminds me of my darling niece when she was about four and would call these devices “‘puters.” Now we turn to her if we’ve bought a new device and none of our own children are living nearby to help train us. Thanks Anna, and Ahmed, and oh yes, daughters on the phone helping us out of tangled messes.

What do you think of our amazing (and frustrating) electronic communication devices?

Oh and P.S. Just now, when I tried to send this draft to my daughters for “final” corrections, the lovely computer reminded me that I had not completed one of their email addresses correctly. Thank you, dear Dell.

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If you comment here or write to me via email, (melodiemillerdavis@gmail.com) I promise not to be a “little chatty fake person.” But you are welcome to point out any errors, or your own issues and problems when it comes to 2024 communication!

I love to hear from you! Here or on Facebook.

However, I have no control over the ads that show up in my posts, sorry to say. I could get rid of them if I paid more for this space. Grrr…..