10 Ways Technology Has Changed in the Last Decade

Instagram is a hugely popular social media platform these days. You can follow the lives of your favourite celebrities, run a business, or just post fun things for your friends. But 10 years ago, Instagram wasn't even around. It was officially released through the app store on October 6, 2010.

Now, in an age when smartphones are getting larger, could you imagine having a phone that barely stretched three inches? Or in a time of 5G speeds, what must it have been like to be stuck with the loading time of 3G? Well, that's what the iPhone was like 10 years ago. Oh, and Siri was just introduced to the iPhone and was considered a luxury rather than a basic feature. Others advancements in today's iPhone include camera specs, front facing cameras, storage capacity, pet portrait mode, and even graphic display enhancements!

In 2009, iPhones and other smartphones weren't new, but they were expensive and exclusive to certain service providers (the iPhone 4 was the first iPhone available through Verizon, for example, and that was in 2010). Many people in 2009 were still walking around with flip phones, slider phones to reveal full keyboards, or Blackberries that had limited or no internet access. In today's modern world, people will audibly gasp if someone pulls out a flip phone.

When you think of streaming services, you probably think of Netflix as the OG. Nowadays there are many to choose from (Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, YouTube), but even looking at how Netflix used to run their business would be shocking by today's standards. Rather than having everything available at your fingertips on your computer, tablet, or console, you actually had to have DVDs shipped to your home and ship them back once you were done to get a new movie. Can you even imagine?!

Social media has been around for a long time thanks to MySpace and Facebook, but instead of just using it to keep in touch with friends and family, we now use it to sell ourselves or our businesses online. Many employers will now look at your social media profiles before hiring you, and you can use platforms like Instagram to actually get paid (hello, influencer life).

Ten years ago, most people used wired headphones or earbuds that plugged directly into their phones or iPods (which are also sort of a thing of the past now). Wireless and bluetooth paired devices were not so common, but as audio jacks have disappeared from devices, wireless and rechargeable headsets dominate the market. Airpods never would have been conceivable a decade ago, especially at an asking price of over $100 when you could get a $10 set of earbuds at Walmart that worked just fine.

Ten years ago, most people had at least basic cable. Today, however, it's become more and more common to instead have only streaming services. From Netflix to Hulu to YouTube, having a combination of the biggest ones basically ensures you'll get to watch all of your favourite shows, this time without the interruption of commercials, making cable feel overpriced and unnecessary.

Who would have thought that a television would allow us to surf the web or use applications like Netflix and YouTube? For years, TVs served a single purpose: allow us to watch cable and if we had extra equipment, we could play games or watch movies. Now the television is capable of streaming, web browsing, and even accessing social media. Televisions now act more like computers than ever before!

Devices like the Garmin don't really hold up anymore when it comes to GPS. It doesn't automatically update and can often be inaccurate or unable to access a satellite to work properly. Now, such devices are outdated because they're built right into our smartphones, constantly updating, and far more accurate.

Amazon Echo (more commonly known as Alexa) is a product created by Amazon.com that's designed for home automation. With a simple voice command, Alexa can perform a number of services for the owner such as turning lights on and off, locking or unlocking doors, changing thermostats, checking on cameras, and so on. These commands can even be given from a device while the user is away from home, but 10 years ago something like that would have been more likely seen in a sci-fi movie. It's initially release date wasn't until November 2014!