The year 2020 leaves behind a decade of great changes in which technology has shaped our lives . Cities, transport vehicles, work related tools and especially our daily habits and routines have been transformed by the unstoppable development of technology.
The changes, which we have been assuming just without being aware, have made our lives not equal to those of 2010. And, today, technology evolves at such speed, that in a decade there are more drastic changes in the that occurred in the past in the same period of time.
People of legal age will have been able to clearly perceive the revolution to which their life has been subjected. A revolution in which we do not repair daily, but if we look back, it will surprise us. Here we compile some changes that our lives have experienced.
Calls to stay have gone down in history
With the development of mobile phones, mobile networks and especially the birth of WhatsApp, calls have been restricted only for important occasions . Nowadays, communication with our friends is practically continuous. To stay in a place and at a certain time, there is no need to call, because with a simple WhatsApp it is enough.
Less passionate reunions
Nowadays, people who live in opposite parts of the world can communicate via the internet daily. Before, calls between different countries were very expensive, so you could only maintain more sporadic contact. This made returning home much more intense and reunions used to be very passionate. Now, luckily, we can maintain continuous contact with our loved ones and feel closer to home even if we are thousands of kilometers away. Applications like WhattsApp or Skype, make the distances smaller.
The cameras
While it is true that photography enthusiasts still use photo cameras, many people only use a smartphone to make almost professional snapshots . And, if we know the technique and have a mobile with a sufficiently powerful integrated camera, we can achieve extraordinary results. The 2010 phones had a camera, but their capacity has little or nothing to do with the current ones.
At present, when virtually all the photos are digital and we see them through a screen, instant cameras have become fashionable , those that are capable of printing an image on photo paper in a few seconds.
Social networks
In the year 2020 we have acquired the habit of telling our day to day in full detail in the different social networks. There are many who use twitter to leave their opinions on countless topics or to inform themselves of their neighbor’s opinions. On Instagram, for example, the accounts that publish their day to day have great success: from the clothes they use, to the food they eat, through the exercises they do in the gym. All this has led to the emergence of a profession: the so-called ‘influencers’. But, on the other hand, social networks have hurt our privacy, since, almost without realizing it, we have given our personal data to companies, who know what we need, when we need it and how we want it.
Streaming platforms
Live streaming or ‘streaming’ allows users to play content without waiting to download it in order to consume it. Thus, in these spaces the Internet user can watch a video, a series or a movie at the same time that it is downloaded.
This has driven the rise and rise of platforms such as YouTube, Netflix or Spotify, among many others. Companies like Netflix have contributed to weakening Internet piracy and have influenced people to have ‘hooked’ on the series. For a small monthly price, these portals give you access to countless series and movies that you can enjoy on your mobile, tablet or television. Spotify did the same with the world of music . With a free and paid version without ads, this platform brings all the music on the planet to your hand.
Youtube has become since its came in 2005, when its creators posted the first video on the youtube, ‘Me at the zoo’, in a giant in which it is the users themselves who generate the content. Some of those crazy young people who hung their videos on this kind of social network in 2010, today have become true media stars , with millions of followers and Hollywood star contracts.
The way to do a job
Internet has also changed the way we do the work. There is no longer a need to stay in the library with our classmates to carry out group work. Now, several members of the group can work simultaneously on the same document each from home. In addition, in the network we can find an infinite amount of information, so turning to the physical encyclopedia is an almost forgotten activity.
Electric and autonomous vehicles and electric scooters
In the fight against pollution, society tries to mitigate damage to the planet by reducing polluting gases. This has meant that in some large cities the entry to polluting vehicles has been restricted. Simultaneously hybrid and electric cars are gaining ground and it is increasingly common to see them on our roads. However, possibly in the next decade when we see the biggest changes in this aspect with the democratization of autonomous cars. Today, there are already vehicles in the world that do not need a driver, but for now we will have to wait for their use to be more common and the legislation regulates their circulation.
Large cities have also experienced the arrival of electric scooters , which flood the sidewalks and cities. This new form of mobility is booming, one that results in a sustainable and very comfortable transport, which the user can park virtually anywhere. But, with the proliferation of these scooters, new problems have also arisen, such as abuses on pedestrians or abuses of other vehicles on scooters.
Deterioration of personal relationships
All these developments have made our day to day something simpler. However, our personal relationships have been damaged. Therefore, the human being must reconsider to preserve his more human side without renouncing all the benefits of technology.