Ten On Thursday

10 Ways the World Has Changed Since You’ve Been in School

It’s been four years since I graduated from college. Turns out it’s kind of hard to figure out how the world changes in such a short time span. Sometimes things really do change that quickly. Bear in mind this list is heavily slanted toward my own ethnocentric perception of the world. 🙂

1. Gas Prices – When I bought my car four years ago right after graduation I could fill ‘er up for under $20 every time. Even when she was really empty. Now it’s doubled and I push $40 for one fill up.

2. Orgainc Food – The push for organic food became so main stream that to me, it almost lost its value. Now consumers have to really check to make sure what they are buying is organic and to find out what exactly the manufacturer’s “definition” of organic is.

3. Ravelry – this may not be a global thing but for me it has shaped the majority of my online knitting interaction. I found Ravelry right as I found the online knitting world and so it seems like it has always been there. I hear a different tune from my friends who were around before its existence, mind you.

4. MySpace – So this may have been around before I graduated, I know Facebook was, but I didn’t use it until after graduation and it really seems to shape how those in my generation interact with one another. I am on the cusp of X and Y and the rest of the Y’ers go crazy for some myspace. (I canceled my account.)

5. Telecommuting – a sub sect of the green movement, this has become so commonplace that the federal government encourages it when possible and I actually now telecommute.

6. Landlines – have disappeared. Well at least for my generation. We all get cell phones in college and then never really see the need to pay another $30/month for a phone that won’t go with you when it’s time to leave. Not to mention said phone is usually target for lots of telemarketers.

7. Internet TV – the use of the internet to download TV shows became so commonplace that broadcast networks (ABC) began distributing their content on the web as well as on those funny square boxes people have in their homes. 😉

8. Apple – rebounded and started to pick up market share outside the world of academia and visual communications.

9. Air carriers – come and go. Skybus came around and went belly up. There was another one too…I was in their frequent flier program but I can not for the life of me remember their name. They closed and gave up their spot at Dulles airport and I think Southwest then bought their spot. (It’s not JetBlue or AirTrain – but it came around at the same time as those … I something or other)

10. Alternative Fuels – got a large boost due to the gas prices sky rocketing. Ethanol gasoline and the American corn crop. Bio Diesel is doing fairly well as far as I know.