Change is upon us, lets look back 100 years

It is amazing how fast everything around us is changing. It is impossible to imagine what it will be like in another 100 years! But we can start by looking at the changes over the last 100 years or even the last 25 years.

25 years ago, the first worldwide web page became live at CERN. Google was founded in September 1998. YouTube became live in 2006, Twitter also opened in 2006. Cell phone technology has been around since 1908 but AT&T introduced the first major improvement to mobile telephony in 1965. 

Today, can you find a cell phone that can be use primarily as a phone? I doubt it?

Desktop computers are an endangered species. Even laptops have lost favor. Increasingly, smart phones and devices as the iPad or various tablets can do everything the bigger, bulky computers can do, but are lightweight and hand sized. 

Storing everything on the cloud means terabyte storage is not needed on your personal device. Many do not even come with a DVD drive, either.

The promise of a pension or 401k being there when you need it is  not true anymore. As companies, governments, and unions try to handle future obligations they are cutting benefits and payouts.

Network and cable television are losing the battle to streaming and Internet options. Media streaming directly to your TV, phone, or iPad make every other form of distribution too expensive and too slow. A headline in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago seems very prophetic: Digital or Die.

Change is upon us, but if we look back 100 years, it is easy to see that society has coped with and continues to deal with massive change. We are not the first generation to face change in our lives. So well we may wonder what will our world be like in 100 years, the reality is that no one knows. All we do know is that it will be very different than today

In 1915, this is a small snapshot of what our world looked like:

• The average life span for men was, 47 years.
• Fuel for cars was only sold in drugstores
• Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
• Only 8 percent of the houses had a telephone
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10mph.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
• The. average US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per hour.
• The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
• A competent accountant could expect to earn S2,000.00 per year.
• A dentist could make $2,500.00 per year.
• A veterinarian could make between S1, 500 and $4, 000 per year.
• A mechanical engineer could make about $5,000 per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births look place at home.
• Ninety percent of all doctors had no college education. Instead, they attended so-call medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as "substandard”
• Sugar was four cents a pound.
• Eggs were fourteen cents for a dozen.
• Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month. They used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason
• The five leading causes of death were: Pneumonia and influenza, Tuberculosis, Diarrhea, Heart Disease, and Stroke
• The American flag had 4S stars.
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30.
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea had not been invented yet.
• There was neither a Mother's Day nor a Father's Day.
• Two out of every 10 adults could not read or write.
• Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at local drugstores.
• Back then pharmacists said, ·'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach, bowels and is, in fact. a perfect guardian of health!"
• Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
• Last, there were about 230 reported murders in the entire United States