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While teaching an introductory journalism class at the University of Alabama in the late 1990s, I invited a colleague from The Tuscaloosa News to speak with my students.
He was well versed in a novel concept called the Internet.
The class took careful notes as he talked about things like Jeeves, Googles, and Yahoos. I did too. He didn’t quite understand the significance of something he wasn’t sure how to spell.
Halfway through the session, we walked down the hall to the computer lab, the only place with dial-up Internet access, and made clumsy attempts to put our new knowledge into practice.
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He had given them an assignment that required research: to write an obituary for a living celebrity.
They took their places in front of the computers, and a dozen modems sprang to life, screeching like a room full of cats in a room full of rocking chairs.
The students, mostly sophomores and juniors, began to write, trying to put the periods and commas in the correct order. One guy was successful. She typed the name “Anna Nicole Smith” into the Google search bar.
An image began to come into focus, building from the top of the screen. Bulky blonde hair. Thick eye makeup. Red fleshy lips.
The rest of the class gathered to watch.
Bare shoulders. Naked… Wait, what?! I made my way over to the computer and tried to cover the monitor, certain that my days as an adjunct instructor were numbered. He had forgotten Anna Nicole, who was very much alive at the time, first gaining popularity as Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1993.
Google moved slowly back then. We had to wait for the image to load before my colleague, the expert, could close the browser. The screen went blank. I was finally able to breathe again.
Somehow, I kept my job. The guy got an A on his writing assignment. And I ended the semester in awe of the power of the Internet. The modem-fed, slow-motion magnificence of him gave me access to more information than I ever knew existed.
Now, it looks old-fashioned and quaint.
While progress often seems slow, it’s amazing how much can change over the course of a generation or two.
My grandparents traveled by horse-drawn carriage.
They were born in the early 1900s in the rural South before cars and trucks were widely available.
That the people I knew and loved lived in such primitive conditions seems impossible for someone like me who grew up in a two-car family. I also grew up with television (although not always in color), cable (eventually), and push-button phones, things that I’m sure my grandparents couldn’t imagine as children.
It’s exciting, and a little scary, to think about the advances that will happen in the next century.
I recently told the story of my Internet lesson to a group of colleagues in their 20s and 30s. They listened intently, no doubt trying to understand a world with worse drawbacks than being forced to use data instead of Wi-Fi.
When I got to the dramatic denouement, one of the reporters stopped me.
“Why didn’t you turn off the monitor?” he said. “That’s what I used to do when I heard my parents come into my room.”
Now tell me. Where was she 25 years ago?
Suzy Fleming Leonard is a feature journalist with more than three decades of experience. get to her in [email protected]. Find her on Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard or on Instagram: @SuzyLeonard
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