In the eighties, it was not so common to have a modem in your computer, if you had one. These days, there are different types of modems: cable modems, DSL modems, and dial-up modems like you used to have.
Although dial-up modems seem incredibly slow these days, compared to “broadband” connections like DSL and cable, they’re incredibly fast compared to what you could get in the 1980s.
I remember that when I got my first dial-up modem for my first computer. Back then, most computers didn’t have modems; Modems have been standard in most computers for years, but they are starting to be phased out because they are so outdated.
The dial-up modems you have now, while much slower than “broadband” (high speed) connections like DSL or cable, are blazingly fast compared to what you could get in the mid-1980s.
Back then, my PC’s modem ran at “1200 baud” (unlike today’s dial-up modems, which are about 50 times faster). Some of my friends had 300 baud modems. They were so slow that if you were going to read an email online, you could read faster than the words appeared on the screen, letter by letter.
Later, when I shell out over $ 200 for a huge 2400 baud modem, I was surprised that the words seemed too fast to read!
Of course, it was still so slow by modern standards, that if you had tried to download even an image like the one you would find on a current website, even a very small image, it could take hours. And a dial-up modem these days costs less than $ 20.
Then times change. Especially when it comes to computers.
Of course, the best thing about it is all the cool things you can do now that would have looked like science fiction in the 80s.
But really, I think the best thing about the technology we have today is how it can bring people together. These days, we don’t think about emailing everyone and having it arrive in a few moments. In the 80s, it was possible to do that, but it was much more difficult to do and much more expensive.
And of course, most people hadn’t even heard of email back then.
One of the best ways people can connect, whether it’s for business or with friends or family, is through video chats. Video chats have been around for years, but only recently have they gotten good enough to be like video phones from the old Jetsons cartoons.
I moved to Hawaii in 2001, about five thousand miles from where I grew up, in upstate New York. My parents still live there, and although my brother is a little closer, he is still very far away in California.
One of the ways we stay in touch is through video chats – if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ve probably been to an electronics store where they have a camcorder hooked up to a TV so people can say hi. themselves when they enter. With a good chat program, a good quality webcam, and a fast internet connection, the image can look almost as good as that.
So it is the best alternative to being with friends or family, when they are far away. It’s almost like I can visit my parents or go out with my brother.
Also, in winter, my parents can point the camera out the window and I can watch the snow fall, and I can make them jealous by showing them my view of the sun shining in the deep blue sea.
It doesn’t cost anything either, so if you talk a lot long distance you can really save a lot of money.
There are many chat programs that allow you to have free audio or video chats (audio chats are just like normal phone calls, and in some cases you can even call a regular phone from your computer).
You can use programs like AOL Instant Messenger, Skype, and Yahoo Messenger for audio and / or video chats. There are versions of these programs for both Mac and PC, but most Mac users use iChat AV (which is what I use to talk to my family and friends), which comes in all Macs made in recent years.
While it’s not a perfect program, Skype is probably your best bet for a program that will work equally well for allowing video and audio chats between Mac and PC rather than just Mac to Mac or PC to PC. And of course, newer cell phones, like Apple’s iPhone, are starting to include it as well.
So remember, computers can be useful tools, but one of the best things about them is how they can bring us all together, no matter how many miles we may separate.