A Brief History of Internet Milestones That Changed Technology

It’s hard to imagine a world without Amazon, YouTube, or email. However, it wasn’t too long ago that we made all purchases in brick and mortar stores (or via catalogs), watched videos on TV screens, and sent letters via snail mail.

That’s why SSLs.com, a website that sells SSL Certificates (tiny data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization's details), created the timeline below. Published by infographic blog Visualistan, it celebrates the Internet’s many “Internet Firsts”—historic innovations that changed the way we shop, communicate, and consume media.

The timeline starts in 1971, when American computer scientist Ray Tomlinson sent the world’s first email, and ends with the world’s first Instagram image in 2010. At the rate technology continues to evolve, we can only wonder what people of the future will think of our own current Internet—and how a similar infographic will look in 2020.

[h/t Visualistan]