As humanity ventures further into the age of Information, the technology that we use changes immensely. The technology that students use on a daily basis differs greatly with the technology that was offered even as early as thirty years ago.

Central Catholic has utilized the tools of technology for many years. However, the level of technology that is used today is many times more complex than what was used in 1987. My Uncle, who graduated in 1987, vividly remembers his time here, “I remember being taught Computer Science by Brother Cornell on TRS-80s…”. The TRS-80 was priced at $600 and featured a blistering 4 kilobytes of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) with a Zilog Z80 processor clocked at 1.774 MHz. The model of Chromebook that is used in the library currently boasts 2 gigabytes of DDR3 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) and an Exynos 5000 series processor clocked at 1.7 GHz. The Chromebook has one million times more RAM and allows for enumerable more functions. Not only is the Chromebook portable, but there are 210 laptops available for the use of every Central Catholic student.

One of the more overlooked aspects of technology is air conditioning. In 1987, most of the classrooms had air conditioning. “…we had to open up windows if we were hot. We were lucky if the classroom that we were in had A/C…”. It would be unthinkable for a classroom to not have means of air conditioning or heat and cause mass discomfort among students.

At this point in the evolution of humans, we have embedded technology into every facet of our lives. The average teenager is looking at a screen for 6.5 hours everyday. Although that might seem disheartening, it should be known that the teenager is most likely using their technology in order to further their knowledge.