Join me as we go back in time to 1990
Twenty Five years seems like so long ago, I was planning my wedding and was in the best shape of my life.
I got to thinking though about other things, the cost of cars, gasoline… and the evolution of technology. Technology and the internet in particular has changed our lives over the past quarter of a century. Many things we take for granted today were unthinkable 25 years ago and have changed the way we live our lives. I put together a quick list of 10 things I couldn’t do 25 years ago but now rely on daily…
- Store large amounts of information in a very small space (anyone remember sets of Encyclopedias?! My mother saved her cash register receipts and we rocked a set of Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia’s. I sure thought I was all that.)
- Translating text between languages at a touch of a button using online FREE resources. It sure beats using a Language dictionary and looking up each word. I still have the Spanish & the Polish dictionary on my bookshelf. I haven’t touched them in years.
- The ability to work from home or telecommute. Starting a business without relying on the traditional costly overheads of office space and the expenses that go with it.
- Communicate with people on the other side of the world in real time from virtually anywhere. (I love Skype!)
- Write something and make it available to millions of people for FREE and without needing specialist skills.
- Search billions of pages of information and find almost anything in less than a second.
- Watch world events unfold in real time independent of traditional media organizations
- Stream & download music, TV, and films over the internet from anywhere FREE of schedule limitations
- View products, compare prices, make purchases and buy tickets without leaving your chair. I remember standing in line with so many others at Ticketron locations for concert tickets.
- Surf the web, make calls, send emails, listen to music, watch movies, record photos & videos, know where you are and a million more functions all using a single device which can fit in your pocket.
What would be on your list?
In the late 1980’s I took a course on dBase III at a community college as I was interested in learening how to create a database for my job in industrial sales. I remember my teacher telling us that in his opinion, the day will come when we will not have to know anything, but we will have to know where to look for the information needed. I think that day has come.