My history with technology is a bit helter-skelter.
I could go with computers, but you wouldn't be interested.
I had experience in 1993, while in the Persian Gulf on USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), with satellite phones. First, we had a large number of media crews onboard as our air wing carried out strikes on Iraq after it broke "no-fly zone" agreements.
All the media had satellite phones with which they called in stories. CBS' team even offered crewmembers a chance to call home at various points during their stay.
Our office had one that allowed us to not only call anywhere but to transmit photos of military interest (non-confidential) to Washington offices of the Navy Office of Information.
When I became a civilian in 1994, I became a temp, and later a full-time employee, with the County of Alameda. In the General Services Agency, all the upper mucks (department heads and special assistants) got Blackberries. I found it quite useful when I could call my boss via landline to her Blackberry, which she had on her person at all times. Hilariously, she didn't always realize she hadn't turned it off, and I could hear conversations with folks wherever she was...usually in coffee shops and bakeries.
I bought a pay-as-you-go cellphone from QVC in the late 1990s. I thought it would be nice to have it for emergencies, but not necessarily for anything else. Such was my mindset at that time.
I don't recall when I bought my first subscription phone, but it was a nice change from the pay-as-you-go.
Ultimately, I bought an iPhone around 2010 or so. I know it changed my life in many ways. It also became the bane of human existence when i would be in a supermarket and someone would be talking away at no one in sight and be completely oblivious to the rest of the world. I still find that both amusing and very sad.
Sigh.
