“Back in the day . . . “I love that expression, but it also startles me a lot. Just this morning I passed a hotel guest looking up the definition of a word in a humongous printed dictionary. I am spending the weekend at a 240-year-old Inn in Stockbridge, MA. The Red Lion Inn has all of the modern conveniences yet is decorated like it’s “back in the day.”
I watched the stranger looking up that word in the hotel lobby for 15 minutes and almost had a meltdown. He obviously couldn’t find it. “Where is your smartphone?” I wanted to scream. “You could have typed that word into Google, even spelled it wrong, and could have had successful results in less than 10 seconds.”
I couldn’t stand watching him. What has become of me? I am now an automated, instant-gratification mama who has probably developed a terrible case of ADD.
I went back to my hotel room, frustrated about the situation. I then suddenly realized that the invention of electronic dictionaries and Google were not so long ago, yet my new adopted technology life seems like it has been with me forever.
This may seem like a mundane story to you but it sure gave me a reality check.
I have included pictures of the Red Lion Inn to remind you of “back in the day.” Some if it is not so bad.
DigiDame 
That’s OK, I got my reality check last week when I tried to watch the Grammy’s… I didn’t know 99% of the people and didn’t know 100% of the songs!!! It made me feel very old… 😦 But, on the other hand, I do know how to text, use FB, send emails, take pictures, and many other things available to me on my iphone… 🙂
“Back in the Day”, people wrote thank you notes in longhand & mailed them, Newsweek was a magazine that you could fold down the pages & cut out articles, teenage girls proudly wore their father’s military jacket, we collected stamps from far away places, took pictures & waited with great anticipation to pick them up @ the corner drug store, getting a mani/pedi was considered a treat and banks gave out savings account passbooks with an interest rate.
Sometimes I wish we were back in the day with those core values.
Core values don’t have to change just because technology does. Technology is simply a tool to make our lives easier and enable us to do more in less time. As someone who hears the clock ticking louder I can really appreciate that. Lois, thanks for the photos fom the Red Lion Inn, brings back fond memories. Janet and I stayed there during our courtship. Very romantic.
I am so proud of you. You are not only a tycoon but a mensch
I sit at my desk all day, in front of a computer, but four “old school tools” are nearby and barely a day passes that I don’t use them: A calculator, a thesaurus, a dictionary and a list book of frequently mis-spelled words that opens automatically to the four words I most frequently mis-spell. Part of the reason is that if leave the screen I’m working on for any reason, I’ll lose a half hour to facebook, browsing and email. I find it difficult to get in the zone and pretty much anything can derail me. I can use Ye Olde Webster’s or Mr. Roget and get right back to it.