Parents know all too well how tough it is to buy the latest gadgets and gizmos for our kids only to find them tucked away weeks later. Our kids give us lists of electronics they want for Christmas or birthdays and we run around like madmen hunting down the stuff. Worst of all, technology isn’t cheap.
Last week I was wandering the aisles of a toy store and stumbled across a myriad of reproduction game consoles. At one point in time I owned each of the originals and was tempted to pick one up for nostalgia. I opted instead to dig through my parents’ closets and find my old Atari.
Frustrated from not being able to connect 1980’s technology to my 2012 television I gave up. Instead I theorized that technology gifts simply don’t stand the test of time. For one reason or another these gifts will eventually end up in a closet, under the bed or at a tag sale.
Frustrating gifts almost always find their way to the back of the closet. When my daughters were much younger I bought them what I thought was going to be a really cool interactive robot. After hours of reconfiguring my computer and the toy I couldn’t make the two communicate. Eventually I gave up and it became an expensive stuffed animal.
Fad gifts have always been the quickest to find their way to the recycle bin. Tamagotchi was a keychain sized pet simulator popular in the late 90’s. Someone gifted one to me and when the novelty ran out about two weeks after turning it on it ended up being tossed in a drawer.
Stupid and pointless technology presents simply don’t make sense and never get used. Deep in my parent’s stash of old gifts to me I found a “computerized” egg. I never understood the point of the egg other than it was supposed to parrot sounds. I honestly can’t remember using it once past my birthday. It was truly stupid.
Outdated technology presents are surely never going to be used because they’re, well, passé. Of all the gifts I’ve received over the years the one that comes to mind is a cassette player. It would have been a great gift had the technology not predeceased CD and MP3 players. I made a whopping $1.00 by selling it at a tag sale.
Finally, incomplete technology will never be used. Soon after the Atari gift I received a Commodore computer. By itself it was fully functional; however, without a floppy drive and printer I couldn’t save or print files. When I eventually completed the system with a dedicated monitor, floppy drive, printer and programs the Commodore became a relic being displaced by PC technology.
Funny though, the same year I was given the Commodore I was also given a small bell that I still have. I never lost the bell or the mallet that came in the kit. Every now and then a guest will ring that bell which reminds me there are some gifts that never go away.
Eventually all technology presents will be shoved into a closet somewhere never to be used again. I guess as a parent I’ve gotten used to the notion that my annual technology investment will end up being forgotten or potentially the subject of one of my daughters’ articles. The bottom line is that eventually all technology will end up in the scrap heap someday no matter what the item.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)