It is funny how easily we get accustomed to anything that makes our lives better. Just think about it, you spend most of your life without the knowledge of the existence of some technology, then you try it out for several months and you can no longer live without it. However, until you experience the shortage of it, you most probably won’t stop to think about how lucky you were to have it in the first place. With this in mind, here are several everyday technologies that we unknowingly take for granted.
Mobile Phones
Just imagine a scenario where you are about to meet with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, but you have just missed a bus that was to take you to the rendezvous point. What do you do in this situation? The answer is quite simple, you just phone or text your friend that you are going to be late. However, just about two and a half decades ago, mobile phones were a rare commodity and this situation would be quite complicated. For the two of you to meet, some serious steps of percussion would have to be taken, and even then a no small dosage of luck would be required.
Internet
Now try to remember what our lives looked like before the era of internet. Even though it was not so long ago it is for some reason incredibly hard to look that far back. Thanks to Skype and Facebook, long distance relationships today, no longer need to suffer the way their previous counterparts did. Now, you can meet people all over the globe, discuss your favorite topics with them on forums or play video games with or against them. Still, probably greatest difference here were accessing data bases and gaining knowledge. Today, if for example you want to find out how many cars are there in Nigeria, you just Google it and in a second find out that there are 7 million registered vehicles operating on Nigerian roads. Truly a Sci-Fi material.
Calculator
Still, these greatest technological advances did not all appear at the end of 20th century, and there are some simpler devices that deserve a spot on this list as well. Calculator is one of such devices. Today, everyone has it in their phones and tablets, on their computers and even on their digital watches. Still, counting complex numbers just a while ago required a lot of time and caused a nuisance to scientists all across the world. The invention of calculator allowed these masterminds of our species to avoid these technicalities altogether and focus on questions that really matter.
Remote Control
Now, remote control is something that we really take for granted even though it has many forms. Just imagine how annoying it was to walk to the TV every time you wanted to switch a channel. However, TV remote is not the only one there is. Even in your garage, imagine if you had to get out of the car to open the door, drive out and then get out again to close it. Luckily, today with these handy garage door remotes, you can do all of this, without leaving your car once. This can be a genuine lifesaver especially during cold winter days, when the last thing you want is to leave the warmth and safety of your vehicle. In this situation, apart from being practical they also save our health.
All in all, even though most of these technologies, may not seem as much from this perspective their impact on our lives is great indeed. Although their presence may not have been appreciated enough their absence is always noticed and this perhaps most faithfully portrays their full significance for our lives as we know them.