Our generation has seen some strange things happen throughout the last two decades. The amount of technology surrounding us every day has grown immensely. Not only have we seen the incredible rise of smartphones, but also gadgets like a cell phone signal booster, which is basically a device that makes sure you never get disconnected again. Never before has there been this big of a wave of global connectivity. But not only that, there are devices that changed our day-to-day lives like nothing else. Let’s look at some of them more closely.
3D printers
Despite the fact that the prototype for this device existed since the 80s, 3D printers didn’t go mainstream until the past decade, making a big splash in the industrial world. But how does a 3D printer work? Well, basically, it uses computer-aided design (CAD) programs to create any kind of shapes from different materials, through additive manufacturing, i.e. it adds layers and layers of material until it gets the shape you intended initially. It revolutionized the way we see production because it made the manufacturing of countless products cheaper and more effective, casually making many production lines obsolete. 3D printing provides wonderful and promising opportunities for all branches of product manufacturing: from auto parts all the way to medicine and art. If you think this doesn’t affect your life personally, you can take a closer look at so many individuals and students on university campuses printing respirators and other medical equipment as we speak, to help their communities and provide cheap and desperately needed products to their medical staff and locals in these troubled times.
Smart Phones
Naturally, we weren’t going to make a list like this and not include smartphones. These devices literally changed our psyche to the point where we cannot imagine how we lived without them. We literally have the world in our pockets now. Ah, remember the times when you could walk out of the house and people would actually have to know your cell phone number to reach you before you came back in and went on the internet?… Well, you can say that you are free to turn your phone off whenever you please, and that’s undoubtedly true, but how many of us actually do it? If you look on the bright side though, if you are strong enough not to let it control your behaviour too much, a smartphone is a blessing in that you can accomplish so many things literally on the go. Reading, writing, audiobooks, podcasts, lectures, assignments, conferences. We can do that wherever we please. Freedom and captivity in one gadget! You are welcome to pick your side.
Tesla Model S
Strictly speaking this is not a gadget and certainly not the first of its kind, but Tesla Model S was the first car that made the world take electric vehicles seriously and step away from the vision of a car as a gasoline-fueled necessity. The importance of Tesla Model S isn’t simply the usage of electricity, but introducing a potent competition to the existing norm. It revolutionized the market and made lots of people choose electric cars over internal combustion engines. Nowadays there are many companies on the EV market, but Tesla Model S remains the breakthrough we were all waiting for.
Raspberry Pi
For the longest time computers, programming, and microcircuits were something beyond the imagination. We’ve certainly used computers, but we never before had such a learning tool at hand. Raspberry Pi is a miniature Linux computer, that requires a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse to function. It gives you a chance to learn first hand about programming and how it actually works. This priceless little gadget originally cost only 25$ and was created for schools in parts of the world that couldn’t afford to provide their students with modern computers. Later it was spread much more widely and many other versions of the original gadget were produced.
GPS Car Navigation
This is not a device to appear on every list. At least not since we got this navigation as an app on our smartphones, but before we all got to even have smartphones, having a GPS Navigation in the car revolutionized the way we travel. Sadly, this device made us forget more routs than we thought it would, but it decreased the number of accidents since it gave audio instructions, eliminating the necessity to consult a map whenever we were at a crossing. GPS navigation system gadget has already become a thing of the past now, but we are thankful for it nonetheless!
This is in no way a comprehensive list of every technological breakthrough of the past decades, but still, these are gadgets that changed our lives, our views of technology, and how far it can take us. Technology is not something that happens “out there” without impacting us personally. It is happening right here and now, changing our lives every day.
