Happy Days

Has Anything Actually Changed Since 1980?

Or do we just think it has

We live in a world where technology has crept into every corner of our lives. From the moment we wake up to the moment we shut our eyes, technology is there. In the shape of our phones, our TVs, our laptops, our banking, our music, even our sex lives.

A lot has changed since 1980.

Or has it?

The Big Lie

We assume that our world has changed irrevocably since then. We no longer have to wait for that film you missed at the cinema to arrive at the video store. We don’t have to pay huge fees to phone overseas. We don’t have to go to the bookstore or library to get a book.

A lot has changed. But not quite as much as you’d think.

We’re led to believe that the technological advances over the past 40 years have changed our lives and the world forever. But compared to the previous 100 years, advances have been slow.

In 1880 in the United Kingdom, children still worked down the mines and in factories, few had fresh running water, no one had cars, no one had been in space, TV and cinema didn’t exist. And if you wanted to go to Australia it would take you three weeks.

By 1980, none of this was true anymore. In a hundred years, mankind had made huge technological and social advances, the likes of which have never been seen since.

True, we used this technology to kill millions of people in two unnecessary world wars. But there’s no doubt, the future was here!

Or so we thought.

The Future

In 1983, my father had a car phone installed. For me, as an eight-year-old, this was pure science fiction. This was the future! Then there were the Space Shuttle launches that I watched on TV. And I felt that by the time I was 48 (my age today), we’d all be living on The Moon in harmony and bliss.

Fast-forward forty years and there’s war on Europe’s doorstep once again. Fascism creeps round every corner, people’s earnings are down, inflation is high, energy prices are unstable, corporate greed is rampant. And yet we think we’re all OK because we’ve got Netflix.

The stark truth is, though, not much has changed. It’s really all an illusion. Most of the technology we use now was conceived before 1980. Computers, the internet, digital photography, mobile phones were all invented between 1940 and 1980.

A technophile might argue that the technological landscape bears no resemblance to that of 1980. But I disagree. TV and cinema have remained the same. The programs and movies might be more glitzy, but the physical product hasn’t altered. And neither has the quality.

How about telecommunications? That’s surely changed. My father, for example, used to phone his sister in South Africa, and it used to cost him £1 a minute. These days, I call my aunt for free.

That’s progress for you!

But it’s not free. Who pays for the smartphone and internet connection and the electricity to power it, along with all the other gadgets and devices I use? I do. I pay! There’s no such thing as a free call. Just like there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

So how about social media? That wasn’t around in 1980.

It’s hard to argue that social media hasn’t changed the way we interact with each other. But interacting is all it is. Instead of chatting on the phone to your friends, you chat on Facebook or Twitter or WhatsApp. In many ways, social media is just an updated version of the original telegraph system.

Conclusion

We live in a world where nothing new has been invented, it’s just that the old things have been upgraded. Think of your car, your bicycle, your TV, your phone, your computers. These things aren’t new. They’re just updates.

The more I think about it, the more I believe this so-called technological revolution is deceiving. Because in reality there’s not much you can do now that you couldn’t do in 1980. We can chat with our friends, watch movies, watch TV, launch wars, and watch ridiculous politicians fight amongst themselves.

In short, nothing has changed. We’re just a bit fatter.

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