Technology, in many ways, is the gift that keeps on giving. Over the years, those amazing scientists and engineers have blessed the world with their inventions. Because of them, we have transportation systems that don’t rely on literal horsepower. Because of them, we have electricity, microwaves and indoor plumbing. But even without going that far back, we see all sorts of technology we simply take for granted today that didn’t even really exist when I was a kid. And that wasn’t even all that long ago.
My Smartphone
While they were nowhere near as compact and robust as what we have today, computers have always played a role in my life. Going through school, I learned about geography by playing Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego and I was able to bumble my way through DOS.
The smartphone is an entirely different beast and I’m not sure how I would get along without mine today. Even when I got a clunky HTC Wizard about a decade ago, I was blown away by how it was effectively a computer in my pocket… and it could make phone calls too. Kids these days are amazed when they see something without a touchscreen.
Google and Wikipedia
Back when I was playing Carmen Sandiego and I learned that the bad guy had flown to a country whose currency was lira, I would thumb my way through the almanac to learn which country that was. It was a physical book. If I wanted to learn more, I’d have to go to the library and find the corresponding Encyclopedia Britannica or work my way through the card file, jot down the call number, and find the relevant book. I don’t do that anymore and it’s not just because I’m no longer in school.
As far as modern technology goes, there are few innovations that have had the same kind of impact as the Internet. And I completely and utterly take it for granted today. If I want to know just about anything, I know that I’m a short Wikipedia search away from finding out. It may be true that the Wikipedia entry shouldn’t always be taken as gospel, but it’s a great starting point. For better or for worse, with a few smart Google searches, you can learn just about anything.
And a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
Digital Cameras
I remember when we took a family vacation to Hong Kong, some time in the 1990s. We were there for about three weeks and, if my fuzzy memory serves me correctly, we may have gone though five rolls of film for the whole trip. That’s about 120 photos in total for 21 days. And at the time, I hadn’t the faintest of clues what it meant to get film with different ISO ratings.
Today, with my trusty Olympus in tow, I can easily take hundreds of photos in a single day. For last year’s trip to Europe, which was also about three weeks, I ended up taking almost 4,000 pictures in all and many of them were taken with different ISO ratings. Digital camera technology has completely changed the way we approach photography. I can’t imagine going on a three-week trip today and only taking 120 photos.
Wireless Anything
As a kid, the assumption was that if you wanted to connect device A to device B, there needed to be some sort of physical cable between them. That’s how you hooked up the VCR. Later on, that’s how you got “the Internet” between the modem and the massive desktop computer. And while cables still play such a heavy role today, we’ve been able to go wireless with so much more.
I take Wi-Fi for granted each and every day. Although I don’t use a lot of Bluetooth products, that technology is pretty amazing too. And even going further back, I remember the first time we had an actual remote control for the TV. It blew my mind.
Making Money Online
For most people, the assumption is that you make your way through school and then you get hired by some company and start your career. You commute to the office five days a week, put in your hours, and go home. The mere concept of a “home office” was remarkably rare during my childhood, because there simply weren’t too many viable careers where that would be possible.
The Internet changed everything. If it were not for the Internet, I’m reasonably certain I wouldn’t have my freelance writing business. If it were not for the Internet, I wouldn’t have this blog as a (semi-)passive income source. Those of us who make our living online are still in the minority, but the trend of working from home (even if you still have a traditional employer) is certainly growing.
And technology has enabled it all.
Because our age difference I always chuckle at these posts. They make me really think about what I had as a kid.
Cell phones were not invented until I was in my 30’s or late 20’s. But my first one had a pull out antenna like a walkie talkie. TV as a kid was just getting color, but most of the first shows I remember were B/W. I love Lucy, Dick van Dyke, the Beverly Hillbillies. I also grew up with Dragnet, Adam-12, Star Trek, welcome back Kotter, the Flintstones (who we all know was the 1st prime time cartoon.)
Computers you say? I used mainframes with punch cards and teletypes. Time share and 2400 baud modems. Procomm Plus, bulletin boards, CompuServ, Genie, Gopher, text with no GUI.
GEEZ, I need to stop. I am becoming an old man.
Our family got our first cell phone when I was just becoming a teenager, if I remember correctly. It was one of the clunkier Motorola flip phones and we always carried the extra battery. It had a pull-out antenna, but could get *some* signal with the antenna un-retracted.
My first experience with the Internet was via the terminals at the library and it was all text-based. No GUI.
My first encounter with technology was probably the ATARI 2600 video game console back in the late ’70s.