Offices have changed dramatically over the last few decades. For example, consider the office desk. In 1980 an office worker might have had a printer, fax machine, scissors and a rolodex within arm's reach. Flash forward to current times, and most of these items are obsolete. Who needs a fax machine when we have email that can be accessed from laptops, tablets and mobile phones? Who needs a rolodex when any contact you know (or don't) is just a click away on LinkedIn?
Our desktops may have become uncluttered by this transformation, but this doesn't mean that our lives have become less complicated. Most people juggle multiple email accounts, store their digital photos in different places and struggle to remember their passwords. Rest assured that there is an entire industry working to simplify our digital lives; unfortunately, however, the utopian vision of office simplicity still eludes us.
1980
2020