What next?

I'm sitting here uploading some "apps" to my iPod and wondering what my kids are going to do with themselves in 20 years.

Do you remember when getting a record was a big deal? When you had that little plastic thingy that you put in the middle of a 45 in order to make it fit on your record player? I can still picture the labels of my Pat Benatar and Rick Springfield records and remember how awesome it was to get an entire album for Christmas!

Of course, I can still see the album cover on the iPod, but it's so different. You can't touch it anymore. Yes, it's better that you don't have to put a quarter on the arm and blow on the needle to stop the song from skipping, but there's nothing tangible. I guess that's why kids don't understand the progress we've made over the last few decades.

When my kids want a song, they think I can just put it on the radio - they don't understand that I can't control the radio. Same with the TV. If you've got a DVR, they can watch recorded programs whenever they want. They don't get that TV stations used to go off at 2 a.m. and all you could watch was a barcoded screen. They don't have to put film in a camera and wait a week to see the pictures they take. They don't have to stop the car and find a phone in order to call someone or wait for a letter to arrive in the mail.

When we were kids, The Jetsons seemed like a different world. But, it's not hard to imagine our children living like that - flying to work and having a machine to dress them every morning. I can't imagine what people in their 80s must think of the changes in the world today. They've known a world where radio was a milestone and the only type of entertainment a family had.

Sometimes, I get sad that my kids don't know a life without this technology. They don't understand what it is to go and "call for" one of their friends and just play. Other days, I'm grateful for the distraction of the movie on the long car ride!