Ten clues that tell you you're living in 2012

Sprout calls this a phone, but has never seen a real one like it.

This week's Listicles topic is a goodie: Ten clues that tell you you're living in 2012. (Thanks Anja for the topic!) After writing my list, I realized that nearly all of it focusses on computer technology. But that's one of the major differences in my life compared to the past. I'm part of the last generation that remembers a time when nobody had a computer at home & telephones plugged into the wall.

1. The first thing I do in the morning, before getting out of bed, is to check Twitter & Gmail, usually Facebook too, from my smartphone.
2. I haven't used an alarm clock for years, I'm woken by a rooster who lives inside my smartphone.
3. My son pretends he's talking on a phone by holding things like a domino, cracker or SD card to his ear.
4. I expect wifi at pretty much every single restaurant or cafe that I go to.
5. I'd say 90% of my reading is done in an ereader app or on my netbook.
6. I've met a significant number of friends & acquaintances online first.
7. My toddler has a blog about him, rather than a baby book. 
8. I have sent text messages to my husband & chatted online while in the same house, sometimes the same room.
9. Gas prices of $1.20/L seem like a good deal.
10. The going rate for teenage babysitters is five times what it was when I started babysitting in the late 80s. 

Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. 

Tea Swamp Park & Hula Seventy are not the only ones doing lists, however. Click on the Listicles badge to the left to check out NorthWestMommy's list & 'assignment' for next week.


Also, I made a new blog button.
What do you think?