Waiting for the next big thing

Everything is happening so fast nowadays. Some would say that we are in the middle of a technological revolution wherein ground-breaking discoveries are being made on an almost daily basis. In my opinion, we are in a time that is comparable to the industrial revolution when the world made significant advancements that changed the way we go about our lives. Over the past two decades, drastic changes have been infused into our lifestyles countless times and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end in the near future.

It all started with the Internet. Back in the mid-’90s, I remember being subscribed to Pacific Internet as I would open up their dial-up connection to loudly connect online. During that time, I had just entered middle school and had no idea what I could use the Internet for. It was like a novelty to me, a feature of my very first personal computer that didn’t seem to have any useful function. However, I do remember trying to download a game but the Internet connection was so slow and inconsistent that it could barely download anything anyway. It was a useless and seldom used feature on my computer to say the least.

Jump ahead a few years later and things change drastically. Napster had just become viral and suddenly everybody wanted to get free song tracks. Music CDs (which are pretty much extinct now) cost around P400 at that time so getting free mp3 files off the Internet made a huge difference. For the first time, we could listen to all the songs we wanted without having to burn through our wallets.

Luckily for me, I was one of the few people to have a cable Internet connection. I clearly remember making the most of its business potential by downloading songs for my friends, burning it into a CD and selling it to them at a price. It was a great business and my first shot at entrepreneurship. Don’t berate me on piracy though! Piracy awareness was very low at that time and I was just so young and so happy that I had been earning my own money.

After Napster, the evolution of social media began. I would like to think it started with the likes of Multiply, MySpace and Friendster, and slowly evolved to the giants of today such as Twitter, Facebook and everything else. These websites popped out of nowhere and just planted themselves into our lifestyle. What amazes me the most is how seamless they now run through our lives. It seems so natural for us to check for events on Facebook or if friends are trying to contact us through Twitter. What is more surprising is that it took such a short amount of time for these things to invade our lives and for us to accept them. We never used these websites 10 years ago and now we are completely dependent on them.

Setting aside the Internet and all its fascinating by-products, there were also amazing advances in terms of hardware. Cellphones, I think, were the most revolutionary piece of equipment. Everything became so much easier and efficient as cellphone technology progressed. Actually, I think they should be called the swiss army knives of technology because they are so much packed into a tiny device. From games to apps to connectivity to extra features, the phones we have now are more powerful and versatile than anything I had ever imagined when I was younger. I recall that I had always dreamt of colored phones, video conferencing when I was younger but never thought I would also use my phone to edit photos, surf the Internet, watch TV and whatnot. The technology we have now is beyond any of my wildest imaginations. That says a lot because my imagination was pretty wild back in the day.

With all that said, I am ultimately thankful that I am living in such a time that there is so much to discover. In effect, I am also eagerly trying to anticipate what the next big thing could possibly be. I think the iPad was a marvelous piece of machinery and the most recent revolutionary discovery. I think what made Steve Jobs such a phenomenal inventor was that he regularly created products before we even knew that we wanted or needed them. The iPad has become so ingrained in our lives so quickly that it has become a mode for learning, a means of business presentation and so many other practical activities.

Eventually, I think there will definitely be someone to carry the torch of innovation. Somebody out there will surely come up with that next big thing. If I were to place my bets, I would hope that something revolutionary would come out of the energy sector. There is so much going on with the development of solar energy and other alternative energy sources that it’s exciting to see which one will hit the jackpot. Maybe we’ll see wireless charging become mainstream? Maybe we’ll have mass-produced batteries that can last for years? Maybe teleportation is actually possible? There’s so much to possibly expect but it’s impossible to tell which is coming up next.

In the end, I guess that’s the excitement of it all and why I feel so lucky to be living in today. I’m extremely certain that a new revolution will be coming soon. I just don’t know what it will be. Whatever it is, you can be sure that I’ll be waiting for it, ready to embrace it in all its revolutionizing glory.