It is difficult to limit myself to only three incredible changes that I have witnessed in my, now, 60 years. I have seen the invention of television, stereo record players, transistor radios, toaster ovens, electric flying pans, electric knives, microwave ovens, computers, iPods, iPads, MP3 players, central heat and air-conditioning, movie cameras, video cameras, VHS players, Brownie cameras by Kodak, digital cameras, heat-pumps, solar energy, digital projectors, cell phones, CD players, CDs, fiber-optics, hybrid automobiles, electric automobiles, satellites, jet planes, the Concorde airplane, and a man on the moon.
To me, the most incredible changes I have witnessed are computers and cell phones. It sitll amazes me that one can be traveling down the highway in America, and someone can call from a cell phone in Europe, and without a cord connected to a jack on the wall, the recipient of the call will be located and receive the caller's call. I don't understand how!
Another very special change for southerners is having central air-conditioning. Not having to endure the extreme heat and high humidity 100% of the time in the South has opened up the South to further development and made human beings much more comfortable. My maternal grandmother, Ruth Mary (Mertens) Higgerson developed congestive heart failure in her old age, and air-conditioning made it so much easier for her to breathe.
And while television was a pretty big to-do in the 1950s, with stereo record players and small transistor radios in the 1960s, I think the 1970s invention of the personal computer has done more for society than any of the earlier entertainment technology. Once computerization allowed everyday people to communicate online via the Internet, it has allowed for social networking, locating old friends and family, genealogical corroboration and research, online education and entertainment, and learning what's happening in other countries first-hand from on-site witnesses. The rapidity with which online communication travels is mind-boggling!
I look forward to seeing what brilliant people invent during the next 25 years, should I be so lucky as to live that long.