The Decade of Technology

With this post I am going to veer away from film discussion because, no matter what you do, no matter who you are, we are all Americans (especially this week).  Of course, there may be people of other countries reading this too.  To those I say that what I will talk about here still pertains to you, but it will be done from an American perspective.

There have been three events that have happened in my lifetime, that are immediately so important in American history, that I (and many other Americans) will never forget where they were and what they were doing when they happened.

The first was the events of 9/11.  Over the past 48 hours (and many other times in the past 10 years since the attacks), you have heard countless stories of what people were doing that day and how they found out about the devastating news.  I was 10 years old that day and I specifically remember when and how I was told.  I was in elementary school when I and my fellow students were told that there was to be an emergency assembly.  At the assembly, we were told that a major incident in New York took place and the administrators began giving messages to students from their parents who worked in New York (I live in a town on the Connecticut/New York border and just over an hour away from New York City.)  I didn't discover the real severity of the incident until I got home that day when I turned on the television and saw the horrifying images that covered the screen.  However, the most important part to take away from this (for this blog post at least) was that on September 11, 2001 I learned of one of the most important moments in American history, first, through word of mouth and, second, through the television.

The second event that most Americans will never forget occurred a little over seven years later on November 4, 2008.  On that day, the first African-American president was elected (Barack Obama).  I, once again, specifically remember the moment in which President Obama won the election.  I was watching CNN in my basement as Obama came within striking distance of the magic number of 270 electoral votes.  A minute or two after 11pm that night, CNN called California in favor of Obama to give him his victory and I rushed upstairs to express my excitement with my mother and then with my friends on FACEBOOK.  Only seven years later I was witnessing history, first, on television, and then on a computer (where a phenomenon known as social networking was about to hit its peak).

The third event that most Americans will never forget just occurred two days ago (Eastern Standard Time at least) when Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden (the face of terrorism in American eyes).  This only happened days ago so saying that I remember it is nothing really impressive.  However, I can guarantee you that I and many other Americans will never forget the moments when they learned of this development.  This time I not only learned of this development by watching my twitter feed but also experienced the event on twitter.  I was not rejoicing in the streets (all though some Americans were), I was rejoicing with friends and family on Facebook on Twitter.  In the two years that have passed since Obama's election I have gotten my own laptop, I have started this blog, I joined twitter (and since have followed it religiously).  I am now doing things I never would have imagined would be possible ten years ago on that fateful day in September.  The crazy thing is I am not the only one.  People around the world are experiencing this technological revolution too and this fact is made even more amazing when being viewed along with our history.