My back has hurt forever, but why do my legs have to hurt?

On a more serious note, I was reflecting today on this fact: the first kids who can’t remember a time before smartphones were everywhere are now becoming adults.

The iPhone was released in 2007, and it wasn’t long before you didn’t have to look far to find a smartphone. At that time it was already quite normal for young children to have cell phones, and by the time I was graduating high school in 2011, smartphones had quickly filled up most pockets (at least of adults and teenagers). Today, people born in 2006 are turning 18 - they probably don’t remember a time before 2009 or so!

I was born in the ’90s, in a time when everyone knew what computers were, but still few had Internet or a home computer - especially one the kids were allowed to use. My first experiences using computers were in school, and I had even seen very little of actually using computers, considering my dad worked on CPU design at IBM. (He had a computer in his bedroom, but I’m not sure I ever saw him use it.) And cell phones - well, cell phones certainly existed, and plenty of adults had them, but they were much too expensive for kids to have, even through my elementary school years.

(I can still remember my fifth grade teacher telling me “you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket!” - hi, Mrs. Barnett!)

Most back then could not imagine a time when all the knowledge of the Internet (and not just a basic four-function calculator) were in your pocket at all times. And now, some adults can’t imagine a time without that.