Top 10 technologies, we have adopted in between 2010 and 2019

We just have a few more days before jumping into the third decade of the millennium. A lot of things happened in this decade, most things for the convenience of mankind, and when it comes to technology, we have seen an enormous advancement in that field. Besides the advancement, we have also seen the adoption of a number of new technologies, which, however, were introduced way before the start of this decade. There are a lot of technologies today that we take for granted, a few of which are the result of faster adoption.

There are things in the domain of technology that we got in this decade, and we can’t imagine our life without them today. Some technologies that we are gifted with, this decade, almost changed the way we lead our lives, and the continuation will be carried out in the next decade, as well. Some might call it the invasion of technology in our lives, which sounds negatives, but there is no denial of the fact that the so-called invasion of technology is the reason, we are leading an easier life. I don’t think we will adapt to any new technology, in the remaining few days of the decade, and thus, it to be the perfect time to say thanks to the decade by talking about some technologies that we are gifted with between 2010 and 2019.

So today, I will go down the memory lane and will find out what technology has given us, or the technologies that are adopted by the people of India, in the current decade.

Wi-Fi or WLAN

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Well, I am not saying, Wi-Fi wasn’t there prior to 2011, but I am sure, most Indian people didn’t know about such technology before it started taking off, in around 2014 and 2015. Yes, laptops, even from the last decade had Wi-Fi cards to connect to Wi-Fi networks, but the density of Wi-Fi networks is far higher now, it was in the last decade. Just turn on your smartphone Wi-Fi in a densely populated or even in a not-so-densely populated area, and you can realize yourself, what I mean to say.

The number of networks increased so much, that we have resorted to 5 GHz networks that have comparatively lower traffic. Unless something new, like Li-Fi, which you can learn more about here, comes, we can find an ever-increasing number of Wi-Fi networks in cities and everywhere where mankind dwells.

Smartphones

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You might be reading this story on your smartphone, and just imagine, how your life will change without this marvellous gadget. We take smartphones for granted, and smartphone sales and adoption too took off in this decade. Yes, the first Apple iPhone and first Android phone were launched in 2007, and late 2008 respectively, but it was never before 2010 smartphones became popular. People, however, still use dumb and feature phones today, and everybody but that one guy in a big friend circle will definitely have a smartphone.

Smartphones today are very cheap, and everybody can afford a smartphone today. Besides offering us the functionality to call, and access the internet, smartphones are used for literally everything, from ordering things online to knowing the driving directions to a place, and everything in between. If you think, this item in the list isn’t making enough sense, have a look at the old physical photo albums, and find out how many actually had smartphones.

Messages using web services

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We ask our friends to send something through WhatsApp, or we simply say, ‘Hey, WhatsApp me the beach photos!’. I still remember, in the last decade, SMS cards were sold like hotcakes, we used to purchase them that would allow us to send a certain number of messages in a day, week, or month. But, with WhatsApp, and other similar services like Telegram, Hike, etc., we can send messages out of bounds.

Even though WhatsApp, which is the app of choice for many, was launched a decade ago, in 2009, but it was not until the smartphone era that the service became popular. We can literally send text messages, photos, videos, documents or other files for free, as long as we have a data connection. Remember Multimedia Messages, where we had to pay, for every byte sent! Email service was and is still there, but it is subtle for formal communications.

Smart TVs and media devices / Cutting the cord

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Even though a smart media device is my device of choice when it comes to choosing between a smart TV and smart media device, it is in this decade, most people opt for smart TVs or smart media devices to make dumb TVs smart. Even though the number of smart TVs, and smart media devices, when considered collectively will not be close to the number of smartphone or Wi-Fi users, most people choosing a TV today, will likely go for a smart TV for its plethora of extra features, a dumb TV can never offer.

I really can’t remember any popular smart TV from the last decade, however today, you can choose from a wide range of smart TVs, available at different price points for users having different budgets. This is a much-needed transition, and the popularity of Smart TVs and media devices had made available a parallel form of entertainment with web-shows and binge-watching TV shows. You can see this story, why I think, web shows are better than age-old TV shows, at least for the young generation.

Smart gadgets

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No, I am not talking about complete smart homes, where our voices will take over the old methods of controlling things, but I am talking about some individual smart gadgets. Yes, smart lamps or LEDs, smart switches, sockets, etc. Even though we are yet to see the complete adoption of these kinds of gadgets, people hardly got hands on these types of smart gadgets in the last decade.

You just go online or go to a local shop, and you can purchase yourself a smart LED, and that too at relatively affordable rates. Not just that, must modern air conditioners, water heaters today, can be controlled using our smartphones, and with a little more brain, they can be made smart. So, even though, smart gadgets are yet to observe mass level adoption, there are quite popular today, and we got them in this decade.

Smart wearables

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No, I am not talking about cardiac pacemakers or spectacles, but smart wearables like fitness bands, smartwatches, VR, and other similar gadgets. With such smart gadgets, we can check our heart rate, calories burnt in a day, work out hours, and a lot of other tidbits of information, right on your smartphones, or on the wearables, as well. It is only in this decade that we are blessed with such smart wearables.

These wearables are really smart, and the potential of these smart wearables can be expanded, which can also be used to predict different medical complications and other problems so that steps can be taken beforehand to save a life. Wearables that smart are still not available today, at least commercially, but we can expect them to achieve this level of smartness in the coming decade.

Cloud storage and computing

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I still remember the day, when I had to carry my project in a flash drive to school. But not anymore with cloud storage. We no longer have to connect multiple flash drives engaging all our USB devices to share a file or a small free game with everybody in the class. Just upload it to your favourite cloud storage platform, and let others download it. The best part is, you can feel free to not share the link with the grumpy class monitor, who is always mad at you, as you can control, who can download the file with the given link.

So, yes, it is safer to both store and shares files with cloud computing. Obviously, a flash drive of 64 GB or 128 GB can give you the opportunity to store multiple files, which isn’t available in most free cloud storage services, but who need to share files that big in everyday life. So, yes, flash drives or external hard drives aren’t going to die any time soon, but cloud storage can be the best place to store files that really matter to you. Cloud computing, in the true sense of the term, is used by most enterprises today, but we are yet to see cloud computing and cloud gaming to take off by common people, in the coming decade.

Seamless electronic fund transfer

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With PayTM, PhonePe, Bhim, we can send any amount starting from Re. 1 at any time if somebody is in an emergency, and is looking for some funds. But looking back to the last decade, fund transfer was never this easy, however, NEFT and RTGS were introduced in 2005 and 2004 respectively, in India. But NEFT, which is a quote-unquote the common people’s method to send money, is processed in batch, which means, the recipient will have to wait for some time to get the funds.

Later NPCI was commissioned in 2008, and IMPS or Immediate Payment Service was introduced in 2010, which made it possible to transfer funds almost instantly. But it was not before the introduction of UPI that people could send money right from their smartphones, which is the most convenient thing ever. With easier fund transfer, we don’t have to carry a lot of cash in our pockets that are vulnerable to get stolen. So, it is only in this decade that electronic fund transfers took off in India, and most people use this service regularly, not only for P2P fund transfer but also for seamless bill payments, vendor payments and much more.

Services coming to the home

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It is fun to go shopping and to dinner with friends and family. But sometimes we are compelled to order things home, as we might be tired after coming back from the workplace, or simply because we want to enjoy things at home. For shopping, we have Flipkart, Amazon; and Swiggy, Zomato, Foodpanda, etc. to feed our appetite. Are you looking for a massage, UrbanClap is there for you! Groceries? Go to BigBasket or Grofers.

I am not here for any promotion. But, what I mean is, we can literally order anything home, we want these days, right from our mobile devices. It is similar to services coming home these days, and I really don’t remember people ordering everything online in the last decade. Yes, there were small services in towns that used to deliver food, and that is also available today, but the concept of services coming to home by ordering them online took off, and people have adapted themselves to this trend, only in the present decade.

Using voice to search

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Today, we find it handy to search using our voice, instead of typing the thing that we looking for. Most web browsers, apps, now have a microphone button, with the help of which, we can just pronounce the keyword, and the browser or the app will do the rest. This is not limited just to mobile devices, and you can even search using your voice, on your computer or laptop, as long as you have a microphone connected to your system.

If you don’t want to touch your smartphone at all, ‘Ok Google’ and ‘Hey Siri’ is at your rescue. Voice searches haven’t made our life significantly better in this decade, but it has added a much-needed improvement to our experience of using our favourite electronics gadgets in this decade. We also use our voice to give commands to our smart assistants, which however hasn’t taken off or is not that mainstream yet. But we can expect them to get adopted very soon, by the start of the coming decade.

So those were the top 10 advancements in technology or the adoption we have seen, in the life of common people in India. Besides all these, we have seen groundbreaking advancements in machine learning, IoT, and machine-to-machine communication. It is expected, those advancements will fuel the internet and technology ecosystem to create a massive breakthrough in offering us the best experience of using the internet, ever.

Time will say, how exactly, the world will change in the coming decade. But, I must say, the world was a different place a decade ago, when the technologies I have mentioned here, weren’t that popular. Some people would say, the world was a better place a decade ago! Maybe for different reasons!

So that was all the top 10 things in technology that the current decade has given us. Do you know any other technology that was adopted in this decade? Feel free to comment on the same below.

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