I was listening to all the talk about the death of Nelson Mandela and the time frame of how long he was incarcerated came up; 1963-1990.
What popped into my head was all the technological changes that occurred while he was in prison. While many of us have lived and seen these changes gradually occur over the years, it must be quite a shock for someone out of society for so long. 
Think of it. Below is a list of technological devices or events that we now take for granted that occurred between 1963 and 1990:
- Color TV (didn’t become mainstream til the mid sixties)
- 8 track tapes
- Cassette tapes
- Personal Computers
- CD’s
- Mobile Phones
- Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
- VCR’s
- Camcorders
- Instant Messaging
- Caller ID
- Word Processor for PC’s
- DNA Profiling
- WiFi
- World Wide Web
- Compact fluorescent bulbs
- Optical Disks
- Hard drives for personal computers (early pcs ran on floppy disks); 8″ then 5.25″ then 3.5″ floppy disks
- Flash memory
- Smoke detectors
- Digital Music
- In-vitro fertilization
- MRI
- Kevlar
- Fiber Optics
- Laser printers
- Fax machines
- Moon landing
- Space Shuttle
- International Space Station
It was said he was allowed to write a letter every six months and a radio was snuck into prison for him to keep up with “current” events. I doubt a radio could have prepared him for the world he walked into in 1990 compared to the one he left in 1963.
