By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor
In the blinking of an eye, it seems 20 years have passed by much too fast.
Thanks to technology, life for me is a bit easier in some ways
than it was two decades ago, but in other instances, scientific advances also
have made life much more complicated. And while times may have changed, I’m
truly still the same person on the inside that I was in the year 2000.
I thought I would look back and compare where I was then and
where I am now and see if indeed my life is better now.
Twenty years ago, I drove a six-cylinder 1996 Pontiac Firebird
that was constantly breaking down and replacing the tires on it cost almost my
entire paycheck. Now my automobile of choice is a four-cylinder 2011 Hyundai
Sonata that is great on gas and more importantly rarely has required expensive
maintenance. Advantage 2020.
Way back in Y2K, I lived alone in a tiny one-bedroom apartment
that I was renting for $900 a month. Now I am married and own a home with a
mortgage payment slightly higher than what I used to pay in rent. Advantage
2020.
In 2000, I had a PC at home that used a dial-up connection and
a noisy quirky modem. Today, we have Wi-Fi throughout our home, and we have
several iMacs and a laptop with no dial-up required. Advantage 2020.
Sad to say, in 2000 my cable television, internet service and
home telephone were bundled through the cable company and it was costing me
more than $250 for that luxury each month. In 2020, we no longer have a home
phone as we rely on our cell phones, and we no longer have cable television.
Instead, we stream everything we want to watch, usually from Amazon or Netflix.
Our basic internet cost is $75 a month. Advantage 2020.
Living in an apartment without a washer or dryer in 2000, I
used to have to take my clothes to the coin-operated laundromat on a weekly
basis. Now I own a high-tech GE washer and dryer that is all-digital and very
economical. Advantage 2020.
Twenty years ago, I had to wait each month for my bank to mail
me my monthly statement so I could keep track of all of my financial
transactions and see if any checks I had written were still outstanding. Now I
can do that whenever I want either on my computer or using my iPhone. Advantage
2020.
Every so often in 2000, I would go to the movie theater to
watch films that I was interested in seeing. That wasn’t always the most
pleasant experience with soda pop spilled on the floor sticking to the soles of
my shoes, people talking loudly over the movie in the theater or having a tall
person wearing a cowboy hat choose a seat in the theater directly in front of
me. Now because of COVID, I haven’t been to a movie theater in years and can
watch the latest movie releases online in the comfort of my living room at home
at any time. Advantage 2020.
In order to pay my monthly bills in 2000, I inevitably would
spend some time on a Saturday morning waiting in the line at the U.S. Post
Office to purchase stamps and return home, write out my checks and then mail
them back at the post office. I still write a few checks now in 2020, but many
of my monthly bills I either pay over the phone or by computer. Advantage 2020.
At work in the year 2000, newspapers were slowly making a
transition to digital photography and were still using 35mm film for much of
what went into the print edition. That meant developing film in the darkroom,
choosing selections from a contact sheet and then cropping and enlarging or
reducing photographs for the newspaper. It was a tedious and time-consuming
process done mostly by hand. In 2020, all newspaper photography is digital,
making it easier to choose photos for print and online photos, and to store and
recall photos almost instantly. Advantage 2020.
Newspaper websites were relatively young in 2000 and the
notion of transmitting breaking news to thousands of readers in a matter of
minutes was surreal. Twenty years later, it’s become a fact of life for
journalists. Advantage 2020.
In reviewing how my life is in 2020 compared to in 2000, I
guess many things really are much better for me. But I was 20 years younger and
in hindsight that’s a clear advantage for the year 2000. <
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