It's not even noon here and already today I have used 3 very different things that didn't exist 10 years ago. Claritin Eye - This product is absolutely the greatest. There has never been a better product made for itchy eyes that are a result of pollen. In May and in September I use it multiple times per week.
Amazon's Kindle - I have not yet written a review of the Kindle, but here it is in short. It is great. There is really nothing to dislike about the Kindle except for the price of books. It is superior to paper books in almost every way.
Dropbox - Dropbox is online file storage with a client that lives on all your devices. If you use it, then you always have the same files on all your devices. I rely on it so much that I wonder how I functioned before I started using it. (If you want to use it, Click here. I'll get some free extra space out of it.)
None of these things existed 10 years ago and now I would not want to do without them. This got me thinking about the speed at which things change. It is as if Moore's law affects every aspect of our lives. The rate of technological change seems to speed up over time rather than slowing down. It's effects are seen in every area of our lives. Even my tackle box is full of things that weren't around 10 years ago.
I also realize that people find technology daunting after a certain age. It seems that nearly everyone has an age after which new technology is useless to them. For my grandparents, the DVR built in to their cable box is really a bridge too far. (After seeing me do it a time or two they may occasionally rewind something they missed,but they are not going to time shift any program.) For some people technological advancements are not just too difficult to learn, they are actually frightening. This phenomenon is nothing new. People once believed that if you travel too fast in a car, you would suffocate. I have to admit that sometimes theories of technology in the future frighten me, but overall I welcome it.
How about you? Are you afraid of the technology of the future? Does the rate of change brought to our lives by technology scare you at all? What products do you use regularly that didn't exist a short while ago? Do you think there will be an age where learning anything new technologically is just not worth the effort?