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I was born after the 1980s so I don't really know what it was like then. However, whenever I hear older folks reminisce about all the new and innovative technology that came out back then I have to wonder why there was such a boom in the industry. Most of the technology we use today was first introduced in the 1980s - the first cell phone, the first camcorder, the CD player and so on.

What was it about the 1980s that allowed for so many new tech devices and revolutionary ideas to be introduced in the matter of 10 years

  • GPS
  • Video Gaming
  • Cable TV
  • Home video
  • Cell phones
  • Portable electronics (radios, audio players)
  • Compact Disc
  • Camcorder
  • Personal computing
Andres Alvarez
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    I suspect this is a kind of historical compression that varies according to when someone grew up. To me, your list seems concentrated and limited to commercial gizmo things. I think of the 1960s as the most expansive decade, with all the technological advances due to the space race, the applications of transistors and integrated circuits, lasers, scanning electron microscopes, etc. (not to mention big bang theory confirmed, civil rights movement, rock and roll coming of age, Woodstock and free love stuff, nuclear war threat high enough that bomb shelters were built all over the place, etc.). – Dave L Renfro Nov 21 '17 at 00:26
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    Personal computers appeared already in 1970-s, and the rest on the list were just a commercialization of a technology known even earlier. One can make a similar list for 1950-s, say, with computers, transistors, lasers, orbital satellites, etc., and make a case for more originality there. If there is anything special about 1980-s it is not "revolutionary ideas" but a number of old ideas becoming economically viable for mass consumption and being adapted to it. – Conifold Nov 21 '17 at 01:14
  • This is definitely due to your youthfulness (as we say in cliche, "get off my lawn you youngsters"). I can lump all your items in one small category. Compare with the 20th-century's growth from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles, propellor planes, jet planes, rockets to the moon. And that's just one example. Look at antibiotics, discovery of th structure of hemoglobin, vitamins, DNA,... – Carl Witthoft Nov 21 '17 at 13:38
  • Thank you all for your input - I didnt realize how much was accomplished in the 1960s – Andres Alvarez Nov 21 '17 at 15:55

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