Editing Information Age (section)

===1969–1989: Invention of the internet, rise of home computers===
{{See also|History of arcade video games|First generation of video game consoles|Second generation of video game consoles|Third generation of video game consoles|Fourth generation of video game consoles}}
[[File:Internet map 1024.jpg|thumb|261px|A visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet (created via The Opte Project)]]

The public was first introduced to the concepts that led to the Internet when a message was sent over the [[ARPANET]] in 1969. [[Packet switching|Packet switched]] networks such as ARPANET, [[Donald Davies|Mark I]], [[CYCLADES]], [[Merit Network]], [[Tymnet]], and [[Telenet]], were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of [[Communications protocol|protocols]]. The ARPANET in particular led to the development of protocols for [[internetworking]], in which multiple separate networks could be joined into a network of networks.

The [[Stewart Brand|Whole Earth]] movement of the 1960s advocated the use of new technology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wholeearth.com/history-whole-earth-catalog.php|title=History of Whole Earth Catalog|access-date=17 April 2015|archive-date=13 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213222025/http://www.wholeearth.com/history-whole-earth-catalog.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 1970s, the [[home computer]] was introduced,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blinkenlights.com/pc.shtml|title=Personal Computer Milestones|access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> [[Time-sharing|time-sharing computers]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ictergezocht.nl/|title=2,076 IT jobs from 492 companies|last1=Criss|first1=Fillur|date=14 August 2014|work=ICTerGezocht.nl|access-date=19 August 2017|language=nl-NL}}</ref> the [[video game console]], the first coin-op video games,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atari.com/history/arcadecoin-op|title=Atari – Arcade/Coin-op|access-date=17 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102013604/http://www.atari.com/history/arcadecoin-op|archive-date=2 November 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://io9.com/forgotten-arcade-games-let-you-shoot-space-men-and-catc-513560652|title=Forgotten arcade games let you shoot space men and catch live lobsters|author=Vincze Miklós|work=io9|date=15 June 2013|access-date=17 April 2015|archive-date=14 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214023147/http://io9.com/forgotten-arcade-games-let-you-shoot-space-men-and-catc-513560652|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[golden age of arcade video games]] began with [[Space Invaders]]. As digital technology proliferated, and the switch from analog to digital record keeping became the new standard in business, a relatively new job description was popularized, the [[data entry clerk]]. Culled from the ranks of secretaries and typists from earlier decades, the data entry clerk's job was to convert analog data (customer records, invoices, etc.) into digital data.

In developed nations, computers achieved semi-ubiquity during the 1980s as they made their way into schools, homes, business, and industry. [[Automated teller machines]], [[industrial robots]], [[CGI animation|CGI]] in film and television, [[electronic music]], [[bulletin board systems]], and video games all fueled what became the zeitgeist of the 1980s. Millions of people purchased home computers, making household names of early personal computer manufacturers such as [[Apple Computer, Inc.|Apple]], Commodore, and Tandy. To this day the Commodore 64 is often cited as the best selling computer of all time, having sold 17 million units (by some accounts)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pagetable.com/?p=547|title=How many Commodore 64 computers were really sold?|work=pagetable.com|access-date=17 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306232450/http://www.pagetable.com/?p=547|archive-date=6 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> between 1982 and 1994.

In 1984, the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting data on computer and Internet use in the United States; their first survey showed that 8.2% of all U.S. households owned a personal computer in 1984, and that households with children under the age of 18 were nearly twice as likely to own one at 15.3% (middle and upper middle class households were the most likely to own one, at 22.9%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/files/1984/p23-155.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=20 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402133738/http://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/files/1984/p23-155.pdf |archive-date=2 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1989, 15% of all U.S. households owned a computer, and nearly 30% of households with children under the age of 18 owned one.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kominski |first=Robert |date=Feb 1991 |title=Computer Use in the United States: 1989. Current Population Reports, Special Studies. |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?q=ED338210&id=ED338210 |journal=Bureau of the Census (DOC), Suitland, Md. Population Div. |via=ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)}}</ref> By the late 1980s, many businesses were dependent on computers and digital technology.

Motorola created the first mobile phone, [[Motorola DynaTac]], in 1983. However, this device used analog communication –  digital cell phones were not sold commercially until 1991 when the [[2G]] network started to be opened in Finland to accommodate the unexpected demand for cell phones that was becoming apparent in the late 1980s.

''[[Compute!]]'' magazine predicted that [[CD-ROM]] would be the centerpiece of the revolution, with multiple household devices reading the discs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1988-02-compute-magazine|title=COMPUTE! magazine issue 93 Feb 1988|date=February 1988|quote=If the wheels behind the CD-ROM industry have their way, this product will help open the door to a brave, new multimedia world for microcomputers, where the computer is intimately linked with the other household electronics, and every gadget in the house reads tons of video, audio, and text data from CD-ROM disks.}}</ref>

The first true [[digital camera]] was created in 1988, and the first were marketed in December 1989 in Japan and in 1990 in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digicamhistory.com/1988.html|title=1988|access-date=17 April 2015}}</ref> By the early 2000s, digital cameras had eclipsed traditional film in popularity.

[[Digital ink and paint]] was also invented in the late 1980s. Disney's CAPS system (created 1988) was used for a scene in 1989's ''[[The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|The Little Mermaid]]'' and for all their animation films between 1990's ''[[The Rescuers Down Under]]'' and 2004's ''[[Home on the Range (2004 film)|Home on the Range]]''.