How has techonology improved/altered the way you live

[[FnG] Hanno]

Start of a new decade etc I was thinking how technology has improved and how it has altered the way I live over the last 20 years.

I came to the startling conclusion that it hasn't altered by much at all.

In my case compared to when I was 18 :

I work for the same company (through 2 buyouts) selling the same items to some of the same customers.
I use computers to in similar ways as back then and although we now use email most of our orders
still come in over the phone/fax.

At home I play on a PC as I did then, using a similar mouse/keyboard. I tend to play the same
sorts of games although with better graphics. The only real difference is that I play social games
on the web now rather than playing with people on the same pc back then. Oh I suppose my shopping
habits have changed I order stuff online whenever I can rather than go to shops as Im lazy.

I read the same sort of books (yes paper books) sci fi/crime. And I often reread some of the
books that I still have from back then.

I use my mobile phone in the same way as 20 years ago - for taking calls. Although back
then the phone was a carphone, my current mobile phone stays in the car for emergencies.
I have never texted someone, and have only ever received 1 text message.
Social networking sites... pah.

[[FnG] Hanno]

I wear the same type of clothes in the same colours I wore 20 years ago.
(Black jeans/grey tshirt/green or blue sweater/blue underwear/white hankies/long black socks)
My only coat is the same denim jacket I bought 19 years ago, and my two hats are respectively
21 and 19 years old > still worn often. I admit I have to buy myself new trainers (black or dark
grey) every year or so.

I eat the same sorts of foods, cooked in the same ways as 20 years ago.
I do the washing up in the same way > I am the dish washer.

I watch similar telly/films although there is more choice in channels.
OKay I record on to a SKY box now and dvds but I dont see thats much difference to VHS .

I listen to the same music in the same way (CDs). Actually probably exactly the same music
as I dont think I listen to anything post 1990

[[FnG] Hanno]

What I am trying to say here is that my way of life has been so unaltered by modern technology
you would think that I am technophobic. But I have a degree in computer science and use
computers every day etc. technology just hasn't impinged on my style of life.
This might be a good thing or might not depending on your outlook.

Back in the 1990's we all imagined that with the new power of computers and
ever increasing technology things would be radically changed by now.
mind controlled pcs, 3d tv (okay its nearly here) , video phones on our wrists etc.

What developements have altered your style of living radically over the last 10 or 20 years?

What developements do you think might alter the way we live in 20 years time?

[[FnG] Sphinx]

We have briefly had similar conversations, more along the lines of what great advances have we had recently, and me being me said "not alot"

The car was introduced nearly 100 years ago - we still have cars on (mostly) 4 wheels and using a steering wheel to steer. Whilst they are prettier and faster, they are fundamentally no different ...

We achieved flight (cant remember when) we still fly the same way, just faster ...

Computers have been around for how long now? they are smaller and faster ...

These have usually been my starting points.

So what is NEW!!

[[FnG] Hanno]

We have briefly had similar conversations, more along the lines of what great advances have we had recently, and me being me said "not alot"

The car was introduced nearly 100 years ago - we still have cars on (mostly) 4 wheels and using a steering wheel to steer. Whilst they are prettier and faster, they are fundamentally no different ...

We achieved flight (cant remember when) we still fly the same way, just faster ...

Computers have been around for how long now? they are smaller and faster ...

These have usually been my starting points.

So what is NEW!!

Yep that about sums it up - its a improved quantity (faster speed/ smaller size) vs quality (some thing that alters what we do) question.

[[FnG] Lambik]

I believe the internet has changed a lot of ppl lives (maybe not me, as I was always behind my pc anyway ),
but I think a lot of ppl are spending more time on internet then 10 years ago.
Teamspeak is a nice example, the online gaming too, added the annoying console games with their crappy controls(which everyone seem to have trouble with, so that makes it okay !?? )

I know some ppl that are completely lost without GPS (10 years back nearly no one had GPS)
It's now on my mobile phone, which is cool, but haven't used yet. I do text message more then 10 years ago(the amount of msg's within the contract dutchy me)

We have a car with airbags all over the place, while our previous car had only one, we never use one(which is a shame, as we did pay for it) j/k
The cars are more safe, but the ppl driving are more and more selfish, and reckless (I can drive faster because of ABS )

last but not least : this decade FnG has had impact (<= don't ask why this smiley, but I just love it)

[[FnG] LcNessie]

The internet has changed a lot in a sneaky gradual sort of way, but only in a couple of years. To make a comparison:

If I remember the facts correctly: Radio took thirty years to have 5 million people using it. TV took 15 years. Internet only took 4 years.

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I remember in the good old days when my mom used to take me to the grocery store and there was this huge row of people with their carts loaded to the brim. When they were finally at the register, they would take out their chequebooks and fill out some form by hand, with on one side the amount of money in numbers AND written out in full to the cent and their names and autograph on the other side, and show them together with their bank-pass. This would than be put in a cylinder which was shot away through tube-mail to the central office (the one in the store, not the headquarters of the company.. That would have been nice as well... )

The writing of the cheque alone took several minutes in my memory, and you just wouldn't do that for anything less than a full cart of groceries.

Now you buy a pack of minced meat and pull a bit of plastic through a slot, type in four numbers and are sent on your way. This process takes 10 seconds. Then you return to the store thrice, because you forgot to buy the milk. Oh, and the cheese. Oh, and the lasagne sauce. But you have the leaves still at home, so that's not a problem. You will return to the store the following day to do the same with the particular ingredients of pizza...

My point being, a lot of people do groceries on a daily basis now, just because paying isn't that much of a hassle anymore.

When the internet was down in the Dutchielands for a longer period of time, because someone accidentally dug up a fiber bundle, you couldn't pay anymore. Many stores had to close their doors, just because their payment infrastructure was down.

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If you have computer trouble, you just run off to a forum to see if other users have experienced the same thing and what they have done to fix it, instead of bringing it to a store and have it looked at for a couple of hundred of your currency of choice...

In the old day you never had computer trouble... You didn't have a computer! Things had simple electronic boards, or even "dead-bug" circuitry. That is, the circuits were just soldered together without board and resemble a dead bug.


Source: http://www.bigmech.com/misc/smallcircuit/

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Everything is software-driven, nowadays. Check your modern televisions and tuners and stuff. You will find a serial or USB port, of which the manual states that this is to be used for firmware updates. This is a double edged sword. If there was a problem with a series of TVs, the only option you had, was to issue a factory recall. Now you can just plug it in to the computer or network, and it will update itself, eliviating most problems. The downside to this, is that manufacturers tend to bring out new stuff without testing properly, because they can fix it on the fly. This is a major issue with any software, though.

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What it all boils down to, is that the internet IS the major improvement of the last 25 years. It is, however, not something that has replaced something else in one big kaboom. It gradually snuck up on us and added to our range of communications. But it IS changing things. Bit by bit. Every time it grows, it adds a little bit and it nibbles away from the classical. If the internet were taken away from us overnight, the world would crash. It would feel like the stone age! At least the late 1800s

The internet basically is controlled by 13 DNS nodes. Only 13! These manage the top level domains like .com, .eu, .org, .it, .de, .tw, name it. If I had anything to say about it, I would turn that into 130 tout suite. Only 13 madmen at the right place and the right time with a cable cutter or an industrial degausser and we have a SERIOUS world-wide issue...

[[FnG] Marksman]

What it all boils down to, is that the internet IS the major improvement of the last 25 years. It is, however, not something that has replaced something else in one big kaboom. It gradually snuck up on us and added to our range of communications. But it IS changing things. Bit by bit. Every time it grows, it adds a little bit and it nibbles away from the classical. If the internet were taken away from us overnight, the world would crash. It would feel like the stone age! At least the late 1800s

Very well put. In terms of personal impact I would definitely say the internet has altered my life significantly this (well, last) decade. Before 2000 I was playing games offline, and when I started playing online in 2004 I was using a 56k modem to do it. Imagine that: joining the UT2003 online gaming ring with a 250ms ping. It wasn't long before broadband was purchased...

The university I graduated from in 2001 had barely adequate ADSL shared between departments, which meant terrible delays and clogging of the network by all the exchange students trying to start voice chats with their families back home, where internet technology was more established and better. We were running Pentium 266s back then, which wouldn't even start most of today's software and applications. Now you can buy, download and run software without even leaving your PC, which is extraordinary when you think about it.

Since then I've used the internet to join online communities (most notably this, very awesome, one ), do distance-learning and re-connect with old friends through Facebook, some of whom will be at my wedding. This month I'll be meeting up with a local collection of graphic designers and artists, courtesy of an article I found out about from a newspaper article, that directed me to a website, which in turn got me in touch with a local business owner who is making great strides with her online PR work. Her business is based around internet communications - the technology didn't even exist five years ago, let alone ten.

I didn't have a mobile phone in 2000, now I use mine virtually every day and, once I move contract to one that includes unlimited web minutes, I suspect I'll use it even more.

The internet basically is controlled by 13 DNS nodes. Only 13! These manage the top level domains like .com, .eu, .org, .it, .de, .tw, name it. If I had anything to say about it, I would turn that into 130 tout suite. Only 13 madmen at the right place and the right time with a cable cutter or an industrial degausser and we have a SERIOUS world-wide issue...

Ask yourself "Why 13?", Nessie. Why exactly 13 .... ?

[[FnG] pyxie.T32]

The reason you have not seen a difference is that you are being too general, cars have four wheels becuacec its the best, 6 is lesss efficiant and more expensive, we tried 3, it was crap and couldnt corner. 2 requires a horse to pull it (unless it's a bike)

your mobile can be used for more if you want it to, been lost and left your paper map at home? I have google maps on my phone, its slow and crap like my phone but it works.

The real difference is in the specifics, and in price. I'm having an MRI in a few days, if I had been 20 years sooner, I'd have been dead instead. Im listening to music on some pretty nifty speakers, 20 years ago that quality would have been way out of my reach ( I would have been 4 but never mind) just saying your money goes further tech wise which let you do those things you concider normal, the only reason you can play UT2k4 Hanno is that you can afford 2GB of RAM, could you do that 20 years ago? I doubt it. did 2gb even exist outside of NASA then?

[[FnG] JinX-D]

I basically grew up with a computer, I was 'playing' games at 2 or 3 years old. Granted I needed help from my big brother Kahbouter quite often just to know what to do next, but I believe thanks to computer games and also tv (that was here for a bit longer of course) I got a head start on learning English, because basically every game I played was in English, be it a simple game like cat, to the first Civilization game just to name a few. We didn't have English class at that age (talking about being a bit older now:P). In the Netherlands they start at age 8 with English class, maybe a bit later. This has changed a bit the last couple of years, with the like of Dora the Explorer, I had a 4 year old talk English to me, perfectly well aware of what she was saying, just because she watches that show 24/7 (not sure about this )

The internet has had a tremendous impact on life, basically going to the library for research is so last Tuesday (Tuesday the 14th in 2000 ). Also settling things like bets just got a lot easier, especially now everyone has the internet on their mobile phones.

Being relatively young I can't really say how it has altered my life, since I grew up with, but the technology and possibilities have improved my life. Playing games, meeting you bunch of looneys all improvements

[[FnG] Kahbouter]

I think the biggest change has been in communication. Not only the fact that there are several more ways to communicate than only through letters and/or telephone (probably speaking about a bit more than 20 years ago, but just add a decade). But in written language everybody seems to end sentences with a : and a ) or P, or something like that. I know, I'm guilty too

[[FnG] Mez]

[ wow - I am your lost twin, Hanno ]

I agree that technology gets more efficient - it can evolve so fast but human brains must still have the psychological setup that they've inherited during the past 10,000 years. So it's always a case of new technology, same old problems.

Real breakthroughs are pretty rare - but I can see some improvements in medicine over the next few decades, with tailored gene therapies. But being able to examine each of our own genomes will just open further cans of worms - governments and big corporates will abuse it.

Although a superconducting quantum PC will do for me, so long as there's a decent UT2020 to play on it

[[FnG] Hanno]

[ wow - I am your lost twin, Hanno ]

Probably my evil lost twin, I was shocked going into hospital once that there is someone with
the same name as me , first middle surname and born on the same day.
Your not that evil one born in pontefract?

[[FnG] Hanno]

The real difference is in the specifics, and in price. I'm having an MRI in a few days, if I had been 20 years sooner, I'd have been dead instead. Im listening to music on some pretty nifty speakers, 20 years ago that quality would have been way out of my reach ( I would have been 4 but never mind) just saying your money goes further tech wise which let you do those things you concider normal, the only reason you can play UT2k4 Hanno is that you can afford 2GB of RAM, could you do that 20 years ago? I doubt it. did 2gb even exist outside of NASA then?

I agree with you on the medical - but this is what hopefully most of us don't notice in day to day lives. Hope the MRI helps and
you get fixed up quickly!

On the 2GB of ram - i didnt need 2 GB of ram back then. I don't really consider the more memory/more speed/better graphics
as making a quality change to my life, only a quantative one. I agree with other people that the social aspect of gaming is
a big improvement in gaming life but apart from that I dont see any difference between playing wolfenstein in 1992 when it was released
compared to UT2k4. Yes UT2k4 is better in every way but they are both FPS and both give enjoyment in the same way at blasting the hell
out of stuff.

[[FnG] Marksman]

...they are both FPS and both give enjoyment in the same way at blasting the hell out of stuff.

Ooooh, you make it sound so cold; where's the love of squashing people with a manta, Hanno?