10 Years of Tech

In the year 2000, we considered ourselves an advanced society. We had conquered Y2K and everybody had dial-up. Email was becoming a necessity and shopping on the net actually worked. It all seems so quaint now. So what have we accomplished in 10 years? Or perhaps a better question is, have the benefits of technological advancements outweighed the costs?

One thing is for sure, we have better televisions. Most are now flat and produce excellent pictures, and they are huge. I have a 42-inch only because my living room can't handle a 60-inch set. It usually includes a DVR that lets me choose when I watch my favorite shows, and my mini-satellite dish gives me access to hundreds of channels. BUT most of my favorite programs are over 10 years old. Maybe it is just me.

I still remember the first time I had “high speed” internet. It was such a dramatic improvement over dial-up. The internet has gone from a couple of million sites to a couple of billion sites. There is no doubt that a world of information is now literally at my fingertips. I just heard that the Encyclopaedia Britannica is about to publish its last hard copy. It's all on the net now. I also remember the last time the power went out, and how helpless I felt because I was cut off from that world.

The beige box on my desk is over 7 years old. There are very few of the original parts inside. I have over a terabyte of data storage capacity on my desk. This was unimaginable 10 years ago. Of course the computer experts told us it would happen, but to actually work with that much power and capacity is still amazing to me. The downside is that I must replace this ancient machine soon, and the idea of starting from scratch with a new machine and operating system is daunting to say the least.

Ten years ago, I did not own a cell phone—they were available, of course—but I did not see why I would need one. When I did get one, it was actually just a phone. Only recently have I begun to utilize the amazing power of my 2-year-old semi-smart phone. Now I will drive 5 miles back home if I forget my phone—to be out of touch seems now to be unthinkable. How did we buy groceries before cell phones? Usually there is at least one person on the phone in every aisle checking if there is enough soup on the shelf.

In 2000, the digital revolution was well underway; the big music companies were just beginning to sense their doom. I still have a set of cassette tapes in my car that I have not played in 5 years or more. What I do have is most of my favorite music on my cell phone's built-in MP3 player. I can now listen to “Rhapsody in Blue” any time I want, and that is a real joy.

YouTube did not exist 10 years ago. My YouTube site has been up for almost 3 years, and I have had almost 120,000 views for my 30 or so videos. This is my only foray into the world of social media, but for younger members of this high-tech society, their Facebook profile is their defining identity for the world to see.

As with all technology advancements, whether it is the wheel or a terabyte drive, its benefits depend on how you use it. So for me, on balance, it is a plus.