In my lifetime, and continuing still, the biggest thing is the changes in the computer/technology field.
I started 40 years ago as a Honeywell Systems Mainframe Operator in the USAF, AFSC 51130-B.
For the next 10 years I worked mainframes of various kinds. I specialized in what we then called mini-computers, Data General MV’s, Digital Equipment Corporation PDPs and VAXs, etc.
Switched over to PCs in the 80’s, learned a whole new world of PC networking then, worked the early Defense Data Network (DDN) that became MILNet and merged with DARPANet to become the Internet. We never looked back.
Became an MCSE upon retiring. Been teaching ever since. Nowadays, I teach online from my home. Much more comfortable and really saves on gasoline! I have a home network that rivals what we had in the Pentagon when I was stationed there in the late 80’s.
Consider the smartphone. Just a phone, right? But far more powerful than any 1990s PC or Mac. Think what the smart phone has done to the camera industry—or for that matter, what digital photography has done to film. Or music—remember the cassette tape in the boom box or Sony Walkman? I don’t even put data on tape or DVD any longer; everything is stored in the Cloud, which means I can access it from anywhere (and I do).
Bar fights over facts. Who needs Cliff Claven any longer when you have Google? In fact, there is SO much information out there it is mind-boggling. AND the web gives us the alternate media—with which we can and do dispute the so-called facts of the Leftwing biased media.
I used to read Time, Newsweek, US News and World Reports, the local and national newspapers. I used to love reading the letters to the editor because I was always interested in what others had to say about a news story—especially anyone enlightened enough to challenge the Leftwing mindset of the writers. Watched the Sunday News talk shows, the news every night, TV sitcoms and dramas...
NOT anymore. I get most of my news from Free Republic. I especially love it when folks tear into a news story and prove the bias or just wrong facts the Leftwing news is full of! I watch documentaries, movies, dramas and comedies I’M interested in over my Roku on the TV or on the Internet, but honestly I watch far less video than I used to.
I have learned to do so much on my own I NEVER would be doing if it wasn’t for online videos like YouTube. I have learned how to fix my own tractor, repair lawn equipment, cut down trees properly, fix the car, build a shed, replace the garbage disposal, and cook a fancy meal. I pay all my bills online and do most of my shopping online as well.
I am a type 1 diabetic. I wear a wireless insulin pump and glucose monitor. It is like having an artificial pancreas. And it keeps me alive!
I can’t wait to see what unfolds over the years left in my life!
In many ways things are better but let’s not forget the “bad guys” have taken advantage of progress as well. Just one example, the Fed pumping 85 billion a month for 7 plus years now without having to print a single note.
Very good post.
Just ten years ago, I had a cellphone, a GPS, a digital camera and a MP3 player. Now I have all those in my smart phone which I carry in my pocket.