Am I Living in Tomorrowland? Digital Technology changes from early 2000’s to Now

Many people cannot say they lived in an era where they experienced the very onset of technology, but I can. Technology has grown tremendously over the past decades and has affected teens and young adults who use it religiously throughout their day. I was born in 80’s and grew up playing outside with my Barbie dolls, classmates, and neighbors. During high school I did not have a cell phone until I was a Junior and even then I only had a flip phone that could not even take pictures or go on the internet, and don’t get me started with the cost per text and per minute of calling someone before 7pm. Although technology was just starting to get popular in the early 2000’s when I went to high school, it does not even compare to the type of technology that is used today. I remember going to Disneyland every summer with my family and visiting “Tomorrowland”, which was also referred to the “World of Tomorrow”. I was awestruck by the technology and never thought I would be living it. Now I see that I am living in Tomorrowland and it is getting more advanced as the days go on. The comparisons between technology and social media accounts vary drastically and I wanted to show the evolution of such in this blog.

Digital Technology in the Late 90’s/Early 2000’s

The mobile phone is one of the most powerful tools that we have and something that some people cannot live without. We are able to make calls, send texts, save calendar events, surf the web, play games, and so much more. But this was not how cell phones started off.

Goodwin (2021) illustrated the history of the mobile phone and the chart shows the start of mobile phones was only about 30 years ago. The features of mobile phones in the 90’s were no where in comparison to what we have now and we have to appreciate the advancement of technology since the creation of mobile phones. What surprised me about the history of phones was the Nokia 6110 that was introduced in 1997.

This was one of the first cell phones I had and I was so amazed by the features and the ability to make calls and texts. I was able to store 50 contacts, have a clock, alarm, and three games already installed, had a standby time of 40–180 hours, and I could change the front and back panel cover to different colors and designs. This phone was also the start of the infamous Snake game that kept people occupied for hours. Times were simple back then as we didn’t rely on our devices to do simple everyday tasks. Phones were an addition to our lives at the time, not a necessity. Have you ever wondered why when you sign up for text messages from a company it advises that “Message and data rates may apply”? This comes from when phone companies would charge users per text or bits per second for data. In the late 90’s phone companies were charging $35/month for unlimited texting, which was not enticing for users, so they opted to text someone as little as possible. A Brief History of Text Messaging (2012), mentioned the average American user sent 0.4 texts per month in 1995. If this doesn’t force people to go out and be social with others, I don’t know what will. Another device that grew in popularity was the bluetooth earpiece.

People were able to make phone calls without a cord connecting them to their cell phones. They could use it in their vehicles while driving without potentially being pulled over by police. The late 90’s and 2000’s has brought technology that we base our current devices off. One of the most popular devices and brands that is out now is the Apple iPhone.

The original iPhone was the first touch screen phone that had a multimedia player and online browsing capabilities. Many critics believed sales would not be as good due to the high price of the phone, but little did they know that sales would skyrocket within the next decade. According to the article from iPhone Sales: What’s Behind Apple’s New Billion Number, there are about 3.8 billion smart phone users in the world, where 1 billion of them are iPhone users. The vast amount of iPhone users would not be this popular today if it wasn’t for the original iPhone that was introduced to the world in 2007. One year later, the iPhone 3G made it’s appearance, where it included a faster connection to 3G-based networks and a built in GPS system. The price of the new iPhone 3G also decreased to $199 for 8GB and $299 for 16GB (Montgomery and Mingis, 2021).

The last bit of technology that I wanted to hit on are social media sites from the late 90’s to early 00’s. Xanga was a blog-based social network site where you could essentially create codes of how you want your layout to be, create chat boxes with your visitors, include background music, and post pretty much whatever you wanted.

I would google how to change the layouts, add songs, change the font, etc. and looking back now, I realized I was creating codes to manipulate a website. It taught me patience as I was learning as I go and it was so fun to make the site just the way I wanted it. Another site that brings back so many memories is Myspace.

Myspace was somewhat of a popularity social network site where you could have a certain amount of “Top Friends” on your profile. If you weren’t someone’s top friend and they were on yours, this could cause drama the next day at school. The popularity that Myspace had within the United States and the world grew tremendously over the next years and it made sense. You could follow your favorite band/artist and watch first hand when they created a post, where they were going, new music, etc. The world was taken by storm by these devices and social media sites, but little did they know the progression of devices and digital media would only get more popular and advanced.

Digital Technology in 2022

As we all know, technology and social media has taken over the world. According to Turner (2022) about 84% of the world’s population are smartphone users. In the early 2000’s, people were using devices and digital media to check on their favorite bands, artists, create updates on their lives, or send one or two texts, but now people are using devices and digital media for so much more. According to Anderson and Jingling (2019), people use social media to share videos, pictures, and updates about their lives. It is a “key tool for connecting and maintaining relationships, being creative, and learning more about the world”. With the major events around the world such as the Coronavirus pandemic, we had to adjust the way we interact with each other in a safe way. Social media allowed just that and the usage of technological devices aided in the ability to stay up to date with friends and family. In about 3 decades, the world jumped from social media sites like Xanga and Myspace, to Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.

These social media tools are used as a platform to express ideas, share small businesses, provide knowledge, and for humor. The fastest growing app that is popular among all ages is TikTok. This app was created in 2016 in China, but blew up in the United States during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Dean (2022) states TikTok has over 1 billion active users and has been downloaded over 3 billion times. I am an avid user of TikTok and find it so interesting because it has a variety of topics that I can view. I find myself staying on that app for hours at a time because of how it allows me to learn about the world without moving from the comfort of my home. I frequent three apps on a daily basis including TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. I relate to what Anderson and Jingling mentioned about maintaining connections because I travel a lot for work and do not have the ability to go home for major events (I missed out on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with my family last year), but social media and technology has given me the ability to stay connect with family and friends all over the world. Within a click of a button I am able to FaceTime my friends or family. The ability to connect with family would not be as easy without the technological devices. One device that I have on me at all times is my cell phone. I currently have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and the features on this phone compared to my first phone (Nokia 6110) is like night and day. Not only am I able to make unlimited phone calls and texts, but I can surf the web for an unlimited amount of time, use my GPS to get me from one destination to the next, and link my phone to my computer or tablet to share files, etc. Things that are not installed in my smart phone can be installed through apps that are free or can be purchased through the app store. My phone can be customized to however I want it to look and have the apps that I need to get through my day.

The advancements of today are no where close to what I imagined “Tomorrowland” would be. The ability to contact family and friends with a touch of a button and watch videos from someone across the world through an app has changed the way we are living and will continue to grow as we learn more about technology and what makes our lives “easier”. The questions that may help aid in discussion on this blog post are:

• What new devices and social media sites do you expect to be popular in the next decade?
• With the advancements of technology and social media, what are the potential downfalls?
• How has the change in digital media changed your life? Has it been for the better or worse?

References

“A Brief History of Text Messaging.” Mobivity, Sept. 2012, https://www.mobivity.com/mobivity-blog/a-brief-history-of-text-messaging.

Anderson, Monica, and Jingjing Jiang. “Teens and Their Experiences on Social Media.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 31 Dec. 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/28/teens-and-their-experiences-on-social-media/.

Dean, B. “Tiktok User Statistics (2022).” Backlinko, 5 Jan. 2022, https://backlinko.com/tiktok-users.

Montgomery, A. and Mingis, K. “The Evolution of Apple’s IPhone.” Computerworld, 23 Sept. 2021, https://www.computerworld.com/article/2604020/the-evolution-of-apples-iphone.html#slide2.

Goodwin, R. “The History of Mobile Phones from 1973 to 2008: The Cellphones That Made It All Happen.” Know Your Mobile, 25 Aug. 2021, https://www.knowyourmobile.com/phones/the-history-of-mobile-phones-from-1973-to-2008-the-handsets-that-made-it-all-happen-d58/.

Turner, A. “How Many People Have Smartphones Worldwide (Mar 2022).” BankMyCell, 28 Feb. 2022, https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world.