Without a doubt, the most influential innovation of the second half of the 20th century was the internet. So much of our modern world is powered by this tool, but many of you don’t know where this technology came from. As long as you are stocked up on cat memes you don’t think about what is happening behind the scenes.
This holds a special place in my heart, because I’m from the weird generation that was part of the early creators of our modern internet. When they start talking about GeoCities in the video, back in 1997 when I was your age, I managed my own little piece of the internet. I also downloaded old hard drives full of music from Napster over dialup before they got shut down. Even during the dot com bubble of the early 2000s, I never left the web. Here’s a picture of where we’ve come from. These are each pretty short and should catch you up on what you missed out on.
They kind of skimmed pretty quickly over the jump from mostly wired devices to a nearly wireless world. Many of you have never lived without WiFi, and your mobile devices have always had the internet built right in. However, no device made before 2010 could have dreamt of handling the amount of data that we consume in an evening of binge-watching the Great British Baking Show.
In 2009, Facebook was a neat new website you could visit on your desktop computer during lunch. Sometimes you might spend the entire afternoon uploading vacation photos. When it was time to head home, you’d step out into the pouring rain. You left your umbrella at home. If only there were a way to get weather updates in real time, maybe you could even request a ride from a friendly neighbor. However, when you did arrive home, in the mailbox were two DVDs from a brand new company called Netflix that ships movies directly to your house from a list that you choose on their website.
I’m excited to see where the internet and mobile technology will take us in the coming years as the internet of things (IoT) only continues to grow. If your house is like mine, you probably have dozens of internet-connected devices from laptops, televisions, phones, streaming video devices, watches, smart speakers, even ovens, and other appliances. This will only continue to grow in the coming years with more users coming online in developing countries and more devices and connections being made.
Soon, virtual reality, self-driving cars, remote robotic surgery, and automated drone delivery could add a new layer to the networks that are already stretched thin. Your generation will need to pick up this torch and carry it to new places. 5G (5th Generation) wireless technology is already on the horizon and will bring its own new opportunities and challenges.
Does any of this surprise you? What would the world look like if the government had never handed over control of the internet? With the way that web traffic is corralled through data centers today, does the loss of privacy concern you? What will the new wave of 5G technology bring? What is something that you wish you could do with technology now that is currently impossible? Today’s impossible is well within our grasp. We are making history right now.
Why did Finland have the highest amount of internet users in 1990? That seems sort of random. The lack of privacy on the internet is pretty concerning. It’s always uncomfortable to think that some of our favorite sites are the ones that are most prominently exploiting us by selling whatever information they gain about us.
Oh tru! that is kind of odd.
Is that necessarily a bad thing though? I, personally, like that I can just say “I kind of want a new phone,” and I will get ads for Apple and Samsung on every single website I go to.
Honestly, in some cases, it comes down to personal preference. If I want a new phone, I’d rather look for a new phone on my own than having ads telling me which one to get.
I surprises me how all of this wasn’t that long ago for my generation it’s always been here so it’s weird to think of it not being all around us. The fact is that if you are on the internet people can access your information so yes that concerns me. I wish people could send things through the internet kinda like a teleport.
It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come in such a short period of time. It is just mind-blowing!
It’s true. After the initial use of the internet, the technology grew at a steep incline, and users grew exponentially.
I agree
The only thing that surprises me is that anyone would want a phone implanted into their body, that’s just creepy to me. i don’t like the loss of privacy either, i give out as little information as i can when online and its still enough for someone to find me probably. That’s anxiety provoking to say the least but I know i’m being as safe as i can while still having fun and creating/ taking in content
Yeah, that implant thing is weird. They’d probably figure out how to track you with it, too. And what is the purpose of that anyway?!
It’s incredible to see how far we have come! It’s a good thing the government opened it up. This lack of privacy is a bit concerning though. Otherwise, this is very cool! I wonder if we’ll ever figure out teleportation.
Technology is great but not having privacy is definitely concerning. I’m sure by the time we are older, technology is gonna sky rocket. I mean we already have self driving cars so I’m sure there will be more interesting inventions to come.
It’s crazy that our whole life we have lived with this technology. My great grandma who is 107 grew up with none of the stuff that we have now. She has never owned a cell phone in her life (she only has a land line) and she has never driven a car. Times were so different back then and I can’t imagine what it was like without all the things we have now. I love hearing her stories of the times when she was a kid when none of this stuff existed.
Her stories must be really interesting. She’s lived through many different eras.
Yeah, Your grandma and I have something in common: never had a cell phone
Its kind of crazy that at one point there used to be only 4 computers and now about 80% of people have computers.
wow its crazy to think what the world will be like in 100 yrs. the technology will so advanced it will be scary
I wonder what technology people in the future will have or how they will think about our technology now. I wonder if there will just be more upgrades to current tech or if something completely new will be invented that will completely revolutionize how we live life.
We have advanced so much in the last 50 years, what new tech will we have in 2070? We have accomplished many things thus far, I wonder what scientific secrets we will uncover next.
I actually have a virtual reality headset; the Oculus Rift. It’s incredible what it can do. I truly believe it is the future of our society, not just video games. Taxi drivers working from home via virtual reality and a steering wheel; surgeons operating on a patient while standing in the kitchen; teachers teaching a virtual class while soaking in the bath tub; police hunting someone with a robot in a dangerous situation while sitting in their cars with a virtual reality headset; these things are not too far away. I have actually gone to the beach in virtual reality in Google Earth during the quarantine. Obviously, it’s not the same, but its a nice refresher just to see the sand and hear the waves crash on the shore. There are already universities using Augmented Reality to teach surgeons. I think even UF has a program somewhere in that field.
And now, with 5G, the potential is increased astronomically.
I thought that it was neat of how far we have come. In only like 20 years. To having computers the size of a house to having a computer the size of your hand.
wow are you saying that supercell would be created by a program that is this laggy? jk they waiting until the internet was better