When I was in college during the early 80's, we had to type our
term papers on type writers or pay someone else to do it for us. OK, so
now you know that I am not a spring chicken. Anyway, as I ponder the
proliferation of various "smart" devises used by everyone today, and I
mean everyone, I can't help but to reflect upon the how we did things
without smart phones, computers, laptops, and tablets and how that has
changed as the technologies advanced.
Less than 30 years ago, only the elite may have had early forms of these technological devises that have changed the way we do many things in our lives. At that time, even a mobile phone was only affordable to the very few. I can recall, in the 90's, when my employer announced that he bought a car with a phone in it. The phone had a cord permanently attached to the inside of the center console of his car. He thought he was on top of the world, no longer having to stop at phone booths to call the office for messages, or respond to customers' needs.
Bag phones, cordless phones and beepers
Next came the bag phone, which weighed about 10 Lbs., but was portable with a battery that lasted a couple of hours. Imagine actually trying to a carry a bag phone around with a small shoulder strap. Well I never did. I just left it in their car. Soon after that, came the cordless phone for conventional land lines. Most of us have those today, if we still have a land line installed at home. The early versions now seem like bricks with an antennae attached. This also is around the time that beepers became popular. Anyone could dial my beeper number and no matter where I was, and I would know that somebody wanted to speak to me. Of course, I would likely have to find a pay phone in order to return the call.
Personal computers
As personal computers began to emerge, to most people they were really more like fancy typewriters, not really performing much beyond business accounting and other basic business applications. They were slow and cumbersome, but they sure made writing term papers easier as they operated well as word processors. They were used mostly for business and few had them in their homes.
Laptops and hand held devises
After personal computers begin to find their way in many homes, it wasn't too many years later that laptops and hand held organizers became the norm. They were very portable, while still pricey endeavors compared to a desktop computers, they really fuelled our desire for portability. The internet was becoming more useful and therefore, as these portable machines became more efficient over time, they became something that many people couldn't do without. This was especially true for business people, who now could take their work home in the evening or on vacation and still be connected to their office systems and clients via email.
Cell phones explode
The cell phone market blew up to the point where they became very common for business use, but they didn't really do much more than handle phone calls. The development of mobile applications and cell phones lead to the devises that were capable of more. They could not only be used to make and receive phone calls, but they could be used to access the internet, send and receive email, provide scheduling applications, and take notes.
Smartness
Moving on, with the cell phone technological advancements and internet speed increases, smart phones and provided much more connectivity to personal lives and work. A long commute became a much more productive time for me as a business person. Phone calls could be returned, meetings scheduled, and emails could be reviewed long before I finished my commuter coffee.
Tablets
More recently, was the insurgence of the tablets, such as the iPad. These powerful tools are now used to do all kinds of things beyond what any of us in college in the 80's could have ever imagined. We will never need to physically visit the library to do research on almost anything, wherever we are. These combination digital cameras, phones, internet searching devises, GPS's, game stations, social media outlets, and business tools are changing our lives. We can be completely connected to the outside world at any time we want to be, from almost anywhere.
What is next?
It is hard to imagine exactly what the next advancement beyond the tablets will look like and what they will be capable of doing for us. Surely, they will become robust enough to handle more demanding software applications, while getting even more intuitive. Perhaps they will be flexible screened units that will be folded up and put into your pocket, while also being able to do anything that a state of the art computer can do now. It is exciting to think about. I will now put my iPad to sleep and ponder that idea further.
Less than 30 years ago, only the elite may have had early forms of these technological devises that have changed the way we do many things in our lives. At that time, even a mobile phone was only affordable to the very few. I can recall, in the 90's, when my employer announced that he bought a car with a phone in it. The phone had a cord permanently attached to the inside of the center console of his car. He thought he was on top of the world, no longer having to stop at phone booths to call the office for messages, or respond to customers' needs.
Bag phones, cordless phones and beepers
Next came the bag phone, which weighed about 10 Lbs., but was portable with a battery that lasted a couple of hours. Imagine actually trying to a carry a bag phone around with a small shoulder strap. Well I never did. I just left it in their car. Soon after that, came the cordless phone for conventional land lines. Most of us have those today, if we still have a land line installed at home. The early versions now seem like bricks with an antennae attached. This also is around the time that beepers became popular. Anyone could dial my beeper number and no matter where I was, and I would know that somebody wanted to speak to me. Of course, I would likely have to find a pay phone in order to return the call.
Personal computers
As personal computers began to emerge, to most people they were really more like fancy typewriters, not really performing much beyond business accounting and other basic business applications. They were slow and cumbersome, but they sure made writing term papers easier as they operated well as word processors. They were used mostly for business and few had them in their homes.
Laptops and hand held devises
After personal computers begin to find their way in many homes, it wasn't too many years later that laptops and hand held organizers became the norm. They were very portable, while still pricey endeavors compared to a desktop computers, they really fuelled our desire for portability. The internet was becoming more useful and therefore, as these portable machines became more efficient over time, they became something that many people couldn't do without. This was especially true for business people, who now could take their work home in the evening or on vacation and still be connected to their office systems and clients via email.
Cell phones explode
The cell phone market blew up to the point where they became very common for business use, but they didn't really do much more than handle phone calls. The development of mobile applications and cell phones lead to the devises that were capable of more. They could not only be used to make and receive phone calls, but they could be used to access the internet, send and receive email, provide scheduling applications, and take notes.
Smartness
Moving on, with the cell phone technological advancements and internet speed increases, smart phones and provided much more connectivity to personal lives and work. A long commute became a much more productive time for me as a business person. Phone calls could be returned, meetings scheduled, and emails could be reviewed long before I finished my commuter coffee.
Tablets
More recently, was the insurgence of the tablets, such as the iPad. These powerful tools are now used to do all kinds of things beyond what any of us in college in the 80's could have ever imagined. We will never need to physically visit the library to do research on almost anything, wherever we are. These combination digital cameras, phones, internet searching devises, GPS's, game stations, social media outlets, and business tools are changing our lives. We can be completely connected to the outside world at any time we want to be, from almost anywhere.
What is next?
It is hard to imagine exactly what the next advancement beyond the tablets will look like and what they will be capable of doing for us. Surely, they will become robust enough to handle more demanding software applications, while getting even more intuitive. Perhaps they will be flexible screened units that will be folded up and put into your pocket, while also being able to do anything that a state of the art computer can do now. It is exciting to think about. I will now put my iPad to sleep and ponder that idea further.
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