The Pace of Technology: The 1980s and 1990s

Many people have a tough time understanding the pact at which technological change is occurring. There is a reason for this. Since the start of the century, the progress from the consumer end is rather limited. While there were major advancements, much of the push forward was in areas people do not see.

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The best example of this is our communication systems. That is something that most take for granted yet it came a long way in the last two decades. Without this vital step in our technological evolution, a great many things of today would not be possible.

Over the last two decades, we saw the biggest breakthrough from the consumer standpoint being the smartphone. This was actually the convergence of three separate technologies:

  • mobile
  • personal computing
  • Internet

When Apple™ put these together, something magical happened.

We are about to see a lot more of these magical times over the next couple decades.

Life in 1980

Anyone who is old enough to remember life in 1980 will be walking down memory life. For the rest, it might be a learning experience of how life use to be.

In 1980, this is how life was:

  • kids changed the channel on the television set
  • video games were played at the arcade
  • watching a movie meant going to the pictures or waiting for the Disney™ movie of the week
  • broadcast television offered 4-6 channels from the antenna on the roof (or rabbit ears)
  • reheating food was done in the oven or on the stove
  • office copies were made with a typewriter and carbon paper
  • for most cars, air conditioning was opening the windows at 70 miles per hour
  • advanced phones were touch tone instead of rotary dial
  • the mobile phone was usually the one in the kitchen that had the 12 for telephone cord
  • cameras required film which, of course, needed to be developed
  • music still mostly on vinyl
  • mail was still the fasted way to get a document somewhere

This was the common approach to things. Certainly there were some changes that were starting to take place and a few technologies were implemented by early adopters. Nevertheless, most of society was still in this mode.

By the end of the decades, we either saw or were starting to see the emergence of these technologies:

  • remote control
  • in home gaming consoles
  • VCR
  • cable television
  • microwave
  • copy machine
  • air conditioning standard is many cars
  • mobile phone
  • digital cameras
  • cassette tapes followed by CDs
  • fax machine

Of course, this is all skipping over one of the biggest innovations of this era.

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The Personal Computer

As much as things changed due to those other technologies, the personal computer started to change the business world completely. While it is very slow to adopt in the 1980s, the foundation was laid, leading to the explosion in the 1990s. Of course, the 80s saw single unit systems, something that would be forever changed by the end of the century.

The term file to most people today carries a much different meaning as compared to 1980. Back then, a file was the manila one in a physical cabinet. A document was a literal piece of paper with words written or typed on them. Very little was in electronic format. It truly was an analog world.

When the PC started to become popular, new definitions were developed. At the same time, we saw the information age start to explode as the ability to create was accelerated. For example, a personal computer with a word processing program could see the creation of a document in a few minutes and then reproduced on a copy machine producing multiple versions per minute.

As archaic as this sounds, it was a radical advancement from the period before hand. Also, the PC allowed documents such as contracts to be saved, thus enabling newer ones to be created using the first as a template.

Of course, the 1990s was the era that saw the foundation of the Internet being laid. While it looks like the Stone Age compared to today, it was rather advanced at the time. We saw computer that became networked, spanning the entire globe. The World Wide Web was born, providing people with an easier way to communicate while also opening up the door for a lot more information consumption.

For most, it is impossible to remember life without the Internet. In fact, life without mobile phones is something that is incomprehensible to many. Yet, it was not too many years ago that none of this stuff was around.

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2020-2040: Radical Advancement

By the year 2000, in many ways, life did not mirror what it was in 1980. That 20 years saw a lot of changes both in the personal and personal world.

Look at the list above and consider how each of those changed a major part of our lives. How we interacted as altered. What we did at work shifted. The ability to produce was increased significantly.

For those who lived through it, the evidence was clear. We were using devices and doing things in a much different way than we did before.

This is the period we are embarking upon. We are going to see the pace of technology, from the consumer end, make strides similar to what happened in the earlier time frame. In other words, by 2040, much of what we do will be far different from today.

Again, this is hard for people to imagine yet we have the historical evidence that shows what can take place.

By 2040, it is safe to say that most will not be driving a vehicle. Instead, it will be done autonomously for us. Just think about how radical a concept that is.

And it is just one technology that is being worked on. There are many others that can have similar impact upon our lives in 20 years.

Much of what seems far-fetched today is not when we view it through the lens of what took place a few decades back. What people utilized in the early 2000s was a pipedream in 1980. Yet, somehow, in those 20 years, it all became a reality.

The pace of technology over the next two decades will mirror what took place in the previous era. Since we are starting at a more advanced point, the end result in a couple decades will be far advanced than anything most of us can imagine.

It is going to be an exciting time.


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22 comments
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Oh man, as a dad of a 4 year old I miss the touch channel TV. Now they are all buttonless and as a 4 year old I would wake up early and watch WCW and Hulk Hogan dominate the wrestling ring all while my mum slept.

Now even remotes are hightech with screens and multi pads, my 4 year old has no clue other than to turn it on and that's it.

Life was a lot simpler, they need a dapp for 4 year olds.

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Yeah odds are in a few years your kid will not even remember what a TV is since screens will end up being obsolete.

Things will be watched in VR or AR (or perhaps holograms).

Either way, it is all changing.

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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 74 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
!BEER
5

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You need to stake more BEER (24 staked BEER allows you to call BEER one time per day)

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Agreed now we have better communication and also Smart phone are like computer 🖥️ now and are more advanced than first satellite

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Speaking of satellites. Our global weather readings are about to get major upgrades. There are a bunch of weather satellites that went up in the 1980s that require replacement. They are now going to be upgraded to the latest technology.

Imagine the leap forward that will provide.

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(Edited)

Awesome post
Btw I still have My Atari 2600 and I make experimental músic with that. And yes I was born in 1982 I remember very well those past times

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I have a decade on you.

Atari 2600 was in my house. I spent hours becoming a whiz at Kaboom!.

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Awesome! Well i Made músic with Atari sounds and midi and M-Audio and i put a piezoeléctric pads into an atari joystick so let me know if You wanna take a look about this experiments lol
Have an amazing day

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The Intellivision is where is was at back in the day…

DA9FDB47-E66D-4DF3-8C54-CDCC66A5E26B.png

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the heck is that!?!?

Would love to try this old piece of kit out though.

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i was only born around 1980, but i remember we had this pong game and it was "so cool"to have a video game at home(even though it was played on a 13 inch black and white tv).

eventually, we got a Nintendo but that wasnt until like 1991-didnt have a pc until 98. when i was about 12, we got a 2nd color tv, and i got my parents old black and white tv and i thought it was the coolest thing ever. i remember when we got a (used) wireless home phone-you know, pulling out the antenna-it got so much interference and feedback and stuff but we thought it was so cool as a 12 year old or whatever...oh i had rotary phones before that, too.

i always felt like i lived through such a magical, transformative time in the world....to have that extra ten or twenty(or 50) years or so, I'm sure it's even more so. i told my grandma in the past year that she got to live through an amazing time in history and that i was jealous of her because she won't have to see whats gonna happen in the world😂

i feel that many boomers/people my parents age were kinda late to embrace computers and tech...yeah, my dad and grandma use email and google or whatever, but my nephew is probably way more tech savvy them both of them and hes in like 6th grade.

i am curious as to if the kids now will be able to say all what i am saying and what you are saying...

you know "you young whippersnappers dont know what yr talking about-we used to watch a 2 DIMENSIONAL TV WITH IN ONLY 4K, we couldn't have our programs beamed into our mind"

"i had to read a book instead of downloading it to my brain"

etc

sorry for long comment, i could have turned this into a post!🤡

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You are right.

I will tell you, the kids of today will laugh at previous generations who used screens. Those will likely be gone in 10 years.

The time your grandparents lived through was one of little change as compared to what we have today. The 1980s and 1990s were enormous change, but the two decades before that were not much. It was similar to the 2000s and 2010s.

Now we are about to embark upon a period of radical change from the societal standpoint. By 2040 or shortly thereafter, what we do will be radically different.

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Well...computers were definitely game changing when I was a child. The internet was an amazing place...and I remember getting introduced to games online. Forget about reading books or sports, the computer can replace it.

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The PC was a complete game changer. I surmise we are going to see more things happening that even eclipse that in terms of impact.

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I lived through the boom of video games in the arcades, I spent entire afternoons there with my friends. In my opinion, technology and consoles have radically changed this social moment, I don't think for the better... those who grew up in the 80s know what I'm talking about.

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Sometimes i wish i was born in the 80s. That must have been a fantastic time to be alive. Everything still pure. Still raw and wholesome. Damn i was born in the wrong time.

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(Edited)

I agree with you that technology is going to be very high as the years go by..

If right now I can't imagine staying a single moment without my device, but years back it was not so...

Technology is getting better and changing better, easing lives

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