A lot has changed in the past few decades, but technology has especially rapidly progressed. Let’s take a look at the most popular electronic items we take for granted in our daily life and see their past.
Cell Phone:
Then - Motorola introduced to us the infamous “Zack Morris phone” in 1984 for a whopping $3,995, a brick-sized phone that only made phone calls (what?!) and a large black permanent antenna on top.
Now - The iPhone and Blackberry, priced between $200 -$500, also called “smart phones,” are lightweight, sleek, touch screen and making a phone call is the most insignificant thing it can do compared to email, Internet, videos and well you know…
Music Player:
Then - Sony created the Walkman in the 1980s, a mobile audio cassette player that could be purchased for $150. Technology evolved only a decade later, and in the ‘90s, Sony upgraded to the Discman, a mobile CD player and could be bought for between $20 and $40.
Now - Apple seems to be taking over the world of mp3’s all because of a little thing called the iPod, a digital, mobile music player with smaller headphones and now, touch screen with Internet, email and basically everything--all for the low price of $150-$300.
Television:
Then - In the 1950s, if you had a television in your house, you were rich. A color television, you were really rich. For a huge box with 2 dials, no remote, only a few channels and a noisy picture, you could buy for $249.95, but this is back when the annual family income was only $3, 300.
Now - TV’s now are not a luxury, but a required piece of entertainment in our every day lives. They have evolved to a flat screen that can be hung on the wall, and are HD with built in Internet, and coming soon, 3D features and a crisp picture. Oh don’t forget surround sound all for a cheap price of $2-5,000. Our generation is pretty spoiled.
Computer:
Then - Do you remember your parent’s first computer? Chances are it was a big box with a pretty small screen that was black and white and had no graphics at all. During the 1980’s-1990’s, Windows was invented, the computer for even bigger, but was color screen.
Now - The new millennium brought us better computers, and Apple once again brought us a new toy, the iMac. Laptops made computers become convenient and the Internet became the death of us all. Now a computer costs us from $1,000 to $3,000 ($3,749 to be exact…for the new Alienware M17X), but it does way more than just type documents.
Movie Player:
Then - In the 1970’s and 80’s the VCR was a luxury which played movies on tape in the privacy of your own home, but for a price of $5,000.
Now - The VHS tape retired and DVD’s took its place, along with the DVD player, a thinner, sleeker version of the VCR that played discs instead of tapes. They are much cheaper, $100 or less, and a requirement in your home. The past few years, Blu-Ray players and DVD’s (basically a crisper picture) made its debut and some think will soon take over the DVD.
Then and Now 
