From work to play to everything in between, there’s no doubt that technology has become a quintessential aspect of our lives, especially in the last decade. The 2010s have introduced an unparalleled era of technological progress which has radically shifted how we solve problems and function as a society. With 2020 now on the horizon, maybe it’s worth reflecting on the most impactful advances of the 2010s.

#1: Apps

As the popularity of the smartphone has skyrocketed, many tech companies have capitalized on this success, developing apps that we can’t imagine life without. One of those apps is Instagram, which launched in 2011 and has redefined how we connect with friends and celebrities alike and share our lives with the world through images.

Another app that has changed a different dimension of our lives – transportation – is Uber. First introduced in 2011, the service has granted us the ease to arrange transport to any location within just a few minutes.

#2: Artificial Intelligence

It’s hard to believe that AI has already become so intertwined with our lives, powering everything from ‘smart’ assistants like Siri and Amazon’s Echo to drones to customer preference-oriented services like Netflix. Companies like Google are using it to create self-driving cars, which could greatly decrease road accidents, and AI is even being used in the healthcare field to sort and manage medical records and data. Besides the innovations which have already been implemented, there are endless other possibilities when it comes to future applications of artificial intelligence.

#3: Healthcare

There have been significant breakthroughs in gene therapy treatment for various diseases in the last decade, including the successful use of it to cure a boy with sickle cell disease in 2017. However, there have also been astounding innovations in other areas of medicine, including the development of the RNS system, which continually monitors brain waves in seizure patients and delivers electrical impulses to stop seizures before they begin. Researchers have even begun 3-D printing organs, starting with the first functioning outer ear developed at Cornell University in 2013.

All of these innovations have benefited us in monumental ways, but they are only a sample of the numerous advances in the last decade. But if a single decade could change so much of our lives, who knows what will happen in the next one?