TANDY TRS-80 MODEL 4D

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.