What an amazing year for you all to be living in! In your lifetime, so many new things in the world that are part of your growing up to becoming teenagers/adults were not even there 10 years ago, especially in the case of technical things you use. Life is moving forward so quickly.
The following list will show you how life is moving forward. Much on this list may not affect you directly at your young age, but these things may become very much part of your life in what seemingly is a blink of an eye. Then again, newer and more forward things will take place and this list may already have become obsolete in another decade.
In the last 10 years:
Uber
We don’t have Uber on the island, but many of you, who travel with your parents, may have been in an Uber. On island, we still use taxis which need to be contacted by phone or even text message. An Uber can be called from an app on your smartphone. Uber companies are all over the world. If you call an Uber, you can pay for the ride online! If you call a taxi, you will have to pay cash. The Uber app is a pretty smart app to use when you are travelling.
This photo-sharing app called Instagram is an app that shows the technological strides that have taken place in these last 10 years. It first started in 2010 and now hundreds of millions of people share more than 95 million photos and videos a day. More than 40 billion photos have been uploaded since 2010.
Selfie Stick
This stick holds your smartphone with a front-facing camera at the end of it. I am sure most of you know these sticks. The selfie stick was listed as one of Time Magazine's 25 best inventions of 2014. Now you can quickly upload a photographer of yourself standing in front of any landmark you choose right onto Instagram!
Spotify
Your smartphone and Spotify, the music streaming choice of at least140 million users a month, work hand in hand. You can build and swap playlists from a library that has at least 30 million songs. You can download tracks and listen to them while offline too.
The old way of having different music to listen to (that was not a live band) meant going out to a venue where there was a Jukebox. A big box with speakers was in the room, you put money in and chose your song – a bit like the machines where you put money in and press a button to get a bag of crisps, chocolate bar or soda.
Airbnb
Where do you and your family stay when travelling? Lots of people still stay at resorts, hotels, villas and time shares, but not everyone wants that kind of vacation when one can now stay in an Airbnb.
Airbnb is a website where anyone can book a room in a house, an apartment or flat in a building. You can look up so many places to stay that will suit you even way out in the countryside. You can book a simple room, a middle-sized place or even a whole villa or house.
Airbnb has only been around since 2008 and has places in more than 65,000 cities in more than 191 countries. There are Airbnbs here on our island too. More than 200 million people use Airbnb.
Snapchat
A great app that does not keep messages for very long, Snapchat was and still is super popular among teenagers. More than 170 million people use this app every day.
The iPad
The iPad is the super version of the iPhone – wow! What would we do without our iPads? The iPad came into being in these last 10 years. The iPad has a larger screen than the phone – they say it’s the iPhone on steroids! It's a tablet computer that puts the power of a desktop machine right onto the sitting room sofa.
It can be used in the car, while travelling and just hanging out at home. It wasn't the first tablet or the last, but it made the biggest impact. Apple sold 10.3 million iPads in the last months of the year in 2017 – impressive! The iPad is for people of all ages.
Important reminder
Just remember that nothing means more than having friends you can see, talk to and do things with face to face. Nothing can take the place of conversation. Don’t make it a habit to just watch your smartphone or iPad when you are out with friends! Here’s a New Year resolution to make: “I will put my iPhone/iPad down when I am at the table with my family and friends because they mean more to me than that wee bit of technology.”
Technology can stop working, but your family and friendships will never stop if you work at it through conversation, laughter and fun.
Happy New Year 2020!
