A Mouse in the House

This mouse was attached to the computer in our house! It was 1995 and not unheard of to have a home computer but still pretty rare and special! I recall waking up one Sunday morning to the sounds of a computer game already being played downstairs by one of my young children. Yes, this mouse along with a television style screen, gigantic keyboard, and an awkward but essential big box on the floor or desktop was the computer set up and it was powered up in our house for playtime and productive activity too from morning until nightfall.

The computer world in that decade was dominated by the world wide web access to the internet and Microsoft Windows revolutionary software. Remember the sound of the dial up internet loading and connecting. Netscape Navigator was likely your default browser. Back in those early days favorite computer games like Solitaire, Minesweeper and Sim City were played by the hours. My youngest loved the Barbie games. My middle daughter enjoyed Frogger and Pajama Sam. My oldest liked the Beauty & the Beast adventure game and began making and printing things off on the computer like bookmarks and other treasures. I was doing the same for my Kindergarten class printing banner messages in big black letters that slowly crept out through the printer on interconnected pages with holes on the side your had to carefully detach. Santa and the Easter Bunny were even becoming computer literate leaving intriguing messages for our children on those holiday mornings! The word processing capabilities were basic in today’s standards but I was embracing the possibilities in any way that I could in my personal and work life. Yes, we sure have come a long way since then with our technology!

In those days two adults and three children shared that one standard shade of gray big box monitor with the floor tower, floppy disc drawers, mesmerizing screensavers and of course sizable hand mouse and mouse pad. That would be unreasonable and completely unacceptable in today’s standards of efficiency, but it was the 90’s and we were happy campers just having that new expensive toy in the house with the multiple functions it offered!

At that time we had no idea where all this computer technology would lead us to decades down the road. The never really ever being unplugged times have been with us for years now. There is no turning back. Children grow up with it, learn with it and embrace it in nearly everything that they do. There are still a computers in my house but we no longer need the mouse and a mini one follows me nearly everywhere I go in my pocket or my purse. With a simple touch of a finger we can open up a world of information, complete a multitude of tasks and stay connected with people in our lives. Looking back I realize now that years ago my children and I were part of a generation of pioneers exploring a whole new frontier when that expensive new toy with a mouse came into our house!

Karen Boschee

Mom, Grandmother & Retired Teacher