Published on September 4th, 2020 | by Bibhuranjan

How Technology Has Evolved & What is Next?

Technology has always been a part of human lives starting with steam-powered tech, and even further back than this, we can take the trusty bow and arrow which was a form tech back in the day!

Technology came into its element when planes started to fly the skies and another giant leap for mankind was space travel. Can you believe that we were sending men into space, on the moon, and satellites to orbit the earth before we even began to own mobile phones? At the time satellite tech was not scaled down to create a mobile phone signal.

Space Travel, Passenger Air Travel, & Colour TVs

In time, by the end of the 1960s passenger air travel was becoming increasingly common and space missions were prevalent through the 1970s which is when colour TVs were the next big thing to change our households.

Game Consoles, Handheld Gaming, & Satellite Mobile Phones

Amiga and Atari computers were being released and soon the very first game consoles from Nintendo consoles followed in the late 1980s. This was followed up in the 1990s with colour games, and the Nintendo handheld Gameboy which was played on an LED screen and powered by standard batteries.

At around the same time, satellite phone was available if you had a small fortune to part with. Many high-tech businesses demanding faster comms would invest in this tech. For example, ship’s captains would generally have one of these phones which were already commonplace in world military, but not in our homes.

The Internet, Telex, & Mobile Phones

Before mobile phones were commonplace, the internet was making its way into our homes and businesses in the early 1990s. However, one noteworthy point to make is that the internet back then was just Telex machines which were a form of email comms.

The World Wide Web did not come out until after the Telex. Internet connections using analogue dial-up modems were slow but we had access to websites and a wealth of information all from our home computers using Internet Explorer (now known as Edge) which was one of the first ‘Web Browsers’ to hit the net along with Microsoft networked operating systems.

At the same time, car phones were also making an appearance which were a smaller version of the brick mobile phone that was hugely expensive in that era. It was not until around the 1990s did we start to see dial-up modems and much longer than that broadband and fibre.

As we began creeping up to the new millennium, this is when mobile phones become affordable. Contracts devised by mobile companies meant we could pay our bills and pay off the phone monthly. By this time almost everyone began using mobiles.

Touchscreen Tech, Smartphones & 3G/4G

After the millennium it was just half a decade before our mobile phones turned into mini laptop computers. It began with the Blackberry but then moved into touchscreen tech. When touchscreen tech came out, our lives would never be the same.

Today smartphones rule many of our lives. We need them for the apps and gadgets that organise our high-pressure day to day schedules, to stay in constant communication with work, family, and friends, and to store information as well as access it.

Before this, there was no pressure. If you were unavailable or not at your computer, then people would accept that they need to wait. Today, people expect comms on demand!

With 2G, 3G, then 4G networks soon to become 5G, our lives while on the move will continue to change. Faster comms means faster access to the world, and our employees expect us to be constant contact with add-in clauses in our contracts saying we still need to answer emails and be on call out of hours – often for no extra pay.

Therefore, for the convenience of having technology immediately in front of us, we are giving up our own rest time and free time for free in many cases.

Virtual Reality Is the Next Big Thing

Next in line to create a big change in the way that we live will be virtual reality. This change is coming sooner than most of would think and the latest COVID-19 pandemic is driving investment into the VR tech sector.

The reason is that if another pandemic does hit, then VR can step in for video conferencing, virtual music concerts, virtual sports, and even virtual vacations on the beach! Many businesses will be able to keep on going as they will be able to use VR tech to arrange business meetings, presentations, and even tours all via VR.

For those looking for their next big investment, then VR tech stocks are worth looking into. Like smartphones, computers, the World Wide Web, and computer gaming have become an integral part of our lives, VR will also creep in and change our lives forever.

Your home entertainment system will become a VR studio where you can zoom into any virtual reality you choose. Fancy ducking into a Start Wars world, then soon you will be able to do it. Want to check out the Himalayas, put on your VR headset and tell your VR console to take you there.

All that remains to be seen after this, is how long until the Back to the Future reality hits and flying cars become a reality!

Photo by Eddie Kopp on Unsplash

Tags: gadgets, tech evolution, tech reviews, technological innovations, technology

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.