Technology and the American home go hand in hand. It’s amazing to look back on the technology that plays such a huge part of our lives. When you do, you will quickly see how it has changed over the years. Just as a handy reminder, here’s a list of some of the home technologies that truly have changed drastically over time.
Air Conditioning
Remember the old days when you used to have to manually turn a huge air conditioning unit off and on? Up until very recently, it was a huge chore to have to preset the unit to the temperature you desired. And woe unto you if your AC was out of Freon or if the timing was slightly off. You could end up spending hundreds of dollars on your monthly utility bill for even the slightest variance from the norm.
Today’s modern air conditioning unit is nothing like the old one. For one thing, most modern models are combination heating and cooling units. For another, they are increasingly smart controlled. You can use a device such as the Tado to turn your AC on and off and control it down to the tiniest variance in temperature.
Television
The very notion of how we watch television has changed immensely in the past 60 years. In the ancient days of the 1950’s and 60’s, the TV was a huge, hulking piece of furniture that received three or four local stations. You were lucky if you were able to afford a color TV set. If you wanted to record a program, you had to park your tape recorder in front of it.
Nowadays, your TV is slimmer, lighter, and able to pick up literally hundreds of channels in high definition color. You can use a smart control unit to record programs while you are asleep upstairs or out of the country on vacation. Meanwhile, modern technology allows you to move away from the TV altogether to watch your shows. You’re now as likely to watch them on your PC or even your phone.
Home Security
Remember when the first home security cameras were first unveiled? They were big bulky things scarcely smaller than the cameras that were used to film “Batman” and “F Troop.” The instruction manual was 300 pages long. In it, you found such gems as advice on how to “camouflage” your camera under a handy bush or palm tree.
These days, security cameras are small enough to fit in your front door bell. And they can be utilized via smart technology from a single control unit. Modern home security cameras have a full color, high definition picture and full sound capability. Some cameras are also able to send live video of an intruder directly to the police. In short, home security is one of the technologies that has charted the most positive progress in the past few decades.
Telephone
When Alexander Graham Bell debuted the talking telegraph in 1876, he had no inkling of just how far his new toy would develop over the next 140 years. Today, the phone has become arguably the central communicative device in the average person’s life.
Phones used to physically locked into a wall in your home or a pay station in a crowded market plaza. Now you simply take it with wherever you go. Many people use it to monitor their finances, set appointments, play music and games, and conduct a thousand other activities. Whoever thought getting your first smartphone would replace getting your first car as a rite of passage?
Computers
Perhaps the ultimate item that has changed the most drastically over time is the computer. This is the huge behemoth that used to occupy an entire building in order to perform tasks that a modern smart phone would laugh at. Nowadays the beast has been tamed and reduced to the size of a handful of chips inside a portable carrying case.
Computer technology and smart technology go hand in hand in today’s modern home. You can control a thousand gadgets and utilities with the touch of a button. This is the new reality that you take part in every time you decide to turn off all the lights in your home at once because you don’t feel like getting up.
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