Five year old Gretchen typing next to an adding machine didn’t know she would become an engineer and fiction writer.

If this is a post about phones, why not Jenny (867-5309)? Because this post is about changes in technology. When I was born, my parents only had a black and white TV with a dial. Granted, within a year or so we got a color TV, with a dial. Where do you think “don’t touch that dial” came from? Our phone was of the rotary variety and my childhood recorded on 8mm film. By the time I graduated from high school, we had VHS and Betamax VCRs, both with corded remotes, a camcorder, and I received a CD player for my new dorm room. Fast moving technology considering I saw my first CD in 6th grade.

Fourteen years ago, my husband and I bought a 32-inch TV for our new home. We thought it was huge and it’s still the biggest one we own. None of our TVs are flat-screens. Maybe next year.

As of yesterday, I took another leap into technology. My freebie flip-phone slipped out of my pocket on Saturday and didn’t resurface. It was in the plans for me to upgrade in a few months, so we replaced my phone with a new iPhone 5c (lime green, of course).

I love receiving technology for gifts. I had a Handspring PDA then a Palm IIIc (with Wi-Fi) and now a Google Nexus tablet. Most of my career, I’ve used a laptop. The funny thing is when it comes to telephones, I’m not a high-tech girl. Except for the dorms, I didn’t have a phone in my room until I graduated from college. I was one of the last people to migrate from an analog-digital phone. I rarely talk on the phone and just started texting a year ago. If smartphones were just phones, I’d probably never get one.

While videos didn’t strike a fatal blow to radio music, cell phones are turning home phones into an endangered species.

Are you high tech, low tech or somewhere in between?

What my 5 year old would use to play writer and engineer. Or maybe she’ll go straight for the iPhone.