A timeline of Toffler's 3 waves, and innovations in technology, education, the workplace, social and cultural situations, and the economy from 1900-present time.

1. Timeline: Beyond Simple Waves
Technology
Work
Education
Society & Culture
Economy
The Toffler Waves

2. Hunter-Gatherers
Toffler‘s Three Waves
Agricultural Age
(1st Wave)
Industrial Age
(2nd Wave)
Communication Age
(3rd Wave)
Connective/
Collaborative Age
(Goodnight’s 4th Wave)
2020 and Beyond
Change or Decline
Early Man -
~5000 BCE
~5000 BCE
- ~1750 CE
~1850 CE -
~1955 CE
1950s –
1980s
1989 –
20??
Toffler’s “Waves” are his representation of how new ways of life, new technologies, and changes in society replace what went before. His first wave is
the beginning of settled agriculture; his second wave is the movement from farms to cities brought about by the Industrial Revolution. His third wave,
which he calls the Communication Age, did not take place as he had envisioned it would. My “fourth wave,” though not complete in itself, is the
connective and collaborative society brought about by the instant communication of Internet, smart phones, and social media . 1980 saw the
invention of the “flash” chip, which made today’s cell phone and portable digital technologies possible. 1989 marks beginnings of the World Wide
Web. The final point is that we must change how the market and politics control society, or our inequalities will bring about collapse life as we know it.

3. 1900 - 1910
1910 –
1920
1920 –
1930
1930 –
1940
1940 –
1950
1950 –
1960
1960 -
1970
1970 –
1980
1980 –
1990
1990 –
2000
2000 -
2014
Technology
• 1903 – Curie’s
studies of
radioactivity win
Nobel Prize
• 1906 Radio
Broadcasting
From the first radio broadcasts at the beginning of the 20th century, to the mass broadcasting of world events
via cell phone, technology has changed the way we communicate, the way we entertain ourselves, and the
ways we see the world and interact with its inhabitants. As our technological innovations continue to improve,
we find ourselves in a time when we can make great strides not only in communication, but in scientific
research and in the ways we learn, teach, and share knowledge across vast distances never before possible.
• 1930 Jet Engine
• 1932 Cockcroft
& Walton split
the atom
• 1938 Carlson
invents the
Photocopier
• 1914 Radio Remote
Control
• 1915 Bell calls
Watson by phone
from New York to
San Francisco
• 1920 Marconi
broadcasts
music to
Europe and
ships at sea
• 1925 First
Television
• 1980 Flash Chip
invented
• 1981 IBM PC uses
Intel chip and
Microsoft OS
• 1983 Compact Disc
• 1983 Mouse added
to Apple computers
• 1989-90 Launch of
World Wide Web
• 1943 - 46 ENIAC,
first general
purpose calculator
• 1947 Transistors
developed at Bell
Labs
• 1965 Optical
disc
• 1966 Fiber
optics
• 1967 Portable
calculator
• 1969 The
Internet
• 1970 LED and LCDs
• 1971 Floppy disc
• 1975 Personal
computer
• 1975 Gates & Allen
form Microsoft
• 1976 Apple
• 1977 Inkjet printer
• 1951 Mark I and
UNIVAC computers
• 1953 transistor
radio
• 1956 Video tape
recorder
• 1958 Microchip
• 1991 CERN posts
first web page
• 1993
Touchscreens
• 1995 Leap Frog
portable
learning system
• 1998 Google
• 1999 Webster’s
Online
Dictionary
• 1999 Wi-Fi
• 2000 PCs > 1 GHz
• 2001 iPod
• 2003 MySpace
• 2004 Web 2.0
• 2005 USB Flash
Drives
• 2005 Multicore
processors
• 2007 iPhone,
Kindle, Android OS
• 2010 iPad
• 2012
Quad-core
cell phones
• 2014
Google
Glass

4. Work
1900 - 1910
1910 –
1920
1920 –
1930
1930 –
1940
1940 –
1950
1950 –
1960
1960 -
1970
1970 –
1980
1980 –
1990
1990 –
2000
2000 -
2014
From the beginning of the 2oth century, when workplace safety was unknown and child workers
were commonplace, American workplaces have become safer. We see growing acceptance for
diversity in the workplace, and there is an expectation that corporations will ensure the well-being
of workers and be responsible for environmental impacts. The last decade has seen a rise in
support of small, local business over corporate “big box” stores.
• 1900 AFL Union
membership at 500,000
• 1905 Invention of
Plastic
• 1908 Assembly Lines
• Average workweek 53
hours
• 1.75 Million child
workers under 15
• 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist
fire spotlights
workplace safety
• 1912 Department of
Labor begins in U.S.
• 1919 Great Strike Wave
across U.S.
• 1920 Women get
the Vote
• 1926 Railway
Labor Act forbids
discrimination
against unions
• 1929 Stock
Market crash
begins decade of
unemployment
for thousands
• 1931 Davis-Bacon Act
provides for prevailing
wages in public
projects
• 1935 Social Security
Act
• 1938 Fair Labor
Standards Act
establishes minimum
wage and 40-hour
work week
• 1941 U.S. enters
WWII; women enter
workforce
• Military spending
helps end
Depression
• GI Bill allows
veterans to get a
college education
• Post-war baby boom
takes women out of
workforce
• 1955 AFL and CIO
merge
• 1956 Federal Highway
Act begins Interstate
system
• Television’s ideal family
encourages one
breadwinner, moms at
home
• Industrial expansion to
meet growing
consumer demands
• 1961 Peace Corps
encourages global
volunteerism
• 1962 First WalMart
• 1963 Silent Spring
raises
environmental
issues
• 1965 Affirmative
Action addresses
workplace
inequities among
minorities
• 1970 Occupational
Safety and Health Act
(OSHA) passed
• Arab oil embargo
changes transportation
and encourages energy
alternatives
• 1978-79 Love Canal
and Three Mile Island
draw attention to
industrial dangers
• Hostile takeovers,
buyouts, penny
stocks and junk
bonds fuel “have it
all” economy
• Business
Management
becomes most
popular college
major
• 1985 AOL brings
World Wide Web
to non-tech users
• Internet commerce
changes consumer and
stock market activities;
increases need for tech
specialists
• 1990 Americans with
Disabilities Act changes
workplace requirements
• 1994 NAFTA trade
agreement increases
corporate outsourcing of
jobs
• Emphasis on
globalization,
sustainability
and
corporate
responsibility
• Movement to
support
“living wage”
• Movement to
support local
business vs.
corporate
giants

5. Education
1900 - 1910
1910 –
1920
1920 –
1930
1930 –
1940
1940 –
1950
1950 –
1960
1960 -
1970
1970 –
1980
1980 –
1990
1990 –
2000
2000 -
2014
The 20th century saw great strides in educational methods and theories, from Behaviorism to Constructivism
and cognitive applications of knowledge. In the 21st century, trends toward a common body of knowledge
and methods of teaching have sparked new controversies, with a strong reaction to standardized tests and
the “Common Core” movement. Meanwhile, school safety and bullying have become hot-button issues, and
budget cutbacks have crippled the ability of schools to employ enough educators and engage new curricula.
• 1903 – Pavlov’s work
on Classical
Conditioning
• 1905 Carnegie
Foundation for the
Advancement of
teaching established;
sets the “Carnegie
unit” for amount of
time spent in class
• 1911 First Montessori
school, based on her
theory of adaptation,
freedom, and sensory
discrimination
• 1913 Thorndike’s
Connectionism theory
• 1916 Dewey’s
Progressive Education
Movement
• 1920 Watson’s classical
conditioning
experiments
• 1925 Gestalt Theory of
learning through whole
concepts
• 1926 SAT, first
standardized testing
• 1929 Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development
• 1931 “Dick and Jane”
reading primers
emphasize repetition
to learn reading
• Great Depression has
economic impact on
public schools
• 1935 WPA combines
economic recovery
with building of
schools and libraries
• Education
development and
reform is put on
hold during World
War II
• 1946 Congress
approves school
lunch program
• GI Bill offers higher
education to
veterans, over
238,000 become
teachers
• 1953 Skinner’s work
on operant
conditioning
published
• 1956 Bloom’s
Taxonomy defines
levels of cognitive
domain
• 1957-58 Sputnik
encourages
American emphasis
on Math & science
• 1962 Vygotsky’s 1934
work, Thought and
Language, published in
English; social
constructivist theory
• 1963 Samuel Kirk
introduces concept of
“learning disabilities”
• 1965 Head Start
schools open to help
low-income children
• 1966 Bruner’s cognitive
learning theory
• 1968 First Magnet
school
• 1970 Jean Piaget’s
Learning Cycle
Model
• 1972 Texas
Instruments
produces portable
calculators for
classroom use
• 1975 “Why Johnny
Can’t Write” calls
for back-to-basics
• 1977 Apple IIE for
schools
• 1981 John Holt
fuels
homeschool
movement
• 1983 A Nation
at Risk calls for
massive reforms
in education
• 1989 University
of Phoenix
becomes first
complete
“online
campus”
• 1991 first “charter
school”
• 1993 Brooks’s
Constructivist learning
theory draws on Dewey
and Vygotsky
• 1996 Banks’
Multiculturalism
• 1999 Columbine school
shooting emphasizes
need for safety, student
mental health
• 2001-02 No
Child Left
Behind
becomes law
• 2009 Common
Core Standards
launched
• 2010 Great
Recession
creates
cutbacks in
school budgets
nation-wide
• 2014
Indiana
becomes
first state
to
withdraw
from Core
Standards

6. Society & Culture
1900 - 1910
1910 –
1920
1920 –
1930
1930 –
1940
1940 –
1950
1950 –
1960
1960 -
1970
1970 –
1980
1980 –
1990
1990 –
2000
2000 -
2014
As the American society makes progress through education, technology, and the workplace, issues of equality
continue to dominate, and the sense of social right and wrong divides Americans of differing views. Reforms begun
at the beginning of the 20th century continue to evolve today. An increasingly connected world calls for greater
personal involvement in every aspect of society. Many taboos of an earlier time have been replaced by a sense of
personal freedom brought about from the 1950’s through the 1970’s and continuing through the present time.
• Growing cities
caused issues of
urban poor, while
skyscrapers
competed for height.
• Ragtime music and
barbershop quartets
express bright mood
of the new century
• 1906 First Gran Prix
auto race
• Women’s voting rights
change their image of
themselves;
• 1915 Millionth Model
T is built, cars are the
latest fad
• World War I, Influenza
devastate population
• 1919 Prohibition
makes alcohol illegal
• Literary “Lost
Generation” expresses
freedom of thought
and disdain for
censorship
• Jazz Age, dance
marathons, Houdini,
“Flappers” and speak-
easies – post war
“decadence”
• 1929 Stock Market
crash begins Great
Depression
• Survival in Depression
economy
• 1932 Dust Bowl
displaces farmers to
Western US
• Radio entertains and
informs ordinary
Americans
• 1939 NY World’s Fair
focuses on future,
introduces televisions
• With WW II, Rosie the
Riveter replaces men in
factories
• Fear of Japanese results
in internment camps
• Post-war baby boom
sends women back
home
• Black music enters
popular culture
• Radio adds quiz shows
and comedy-variety
• Cold War fueled by
fears of communism
• National highways
make family vacations
possible
• First shopping malls
begin to replace small-
town Main Streets
• Teenage culture
includes rock ‘n’ roll,
American Bandstand
• Television idealizes
American family
• Kennedy and Camelot
define new decade
• Younger generation
becomes more vocal in
politics
• Counterculture, anti-
war movement,
feminism, equal rights
for minorities,
environmental issues,
consumer protection all
find awareness through
television news
• Old television taboos
broken with satire of
All in the Family and
Saturday Night Live
• 1973 Oil embargo
raises prices; leisure
trips no longer
common
• Ping Pong diplomacy
signals new views
toward Communist
China
• “ME” generation
seeks status and
wealth
• AIDS becomes
deterrent to sexual
revolution
• Rise in single-parent
families, more
divorces, higher
number of couples
“living together”
• Cable television
stations and VCRs
mean increased at-
home entertainment
• Booming economy
fuels consumerism:
personal computers,
video games,
entertainment systems
• “Diversity” movement
calls for equality in
society for all
• Internet becomes
meeting ground for
exchange of ideas
• Mega-bookstores
thrive
• Internet blogs,
apps, Google
provide instant
information
• Emphasis on
healthy eating,
organic foods,
diet boom
• “Reality” TV and
rush to gain
fame
• Growing
animosity
between
conservatives
and liberals
• Cell phones
remove
secrecy and
reveal world
events

7. Economy
1900 - 1910
1910 –
1920
1920 –
1930
1930 –
1940
1940 –
1950
1950 –
1960
1960 -
1970
1970 –
1980
1980 –
1990
1990 –
2000
2000 -
2014
The ups and downs of American economy are illustrated by the costs of basic needs, the average
worker’s pay, and most significantly by rates of unemployment during boom and bust eras. The chart
on the following slide illustrates the disparity of wealth between the haves and have-nots, and
demonstrates the alarming conditions of the economy today which mirror those of the American
situation just before the Great Depression.
Beginning of
Decade
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Population 76M 92M 106M 123M 132M 151M 180M 203M 227M 249M 281M 309M
Loaf of Bread 5¢ 7¢ 9¢ 13.4¢ 13.5¢ 23¢ 33¢ 43¢ 83¢ $1.34 $1.95 $3.15
Avg Annual
Salary
$300/yr $574 $1407 $1388 $1315 $3180 $4816 $8149 $15757 $23602 $30846 $49445
Unemployment 5% 5.9 5.8 13 20.2 6.6 5.5 4.9 7.1 5.6 4.0 8.9
Sources for this page:
http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/his/e_prices1.htm
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/new-census-numbers-make-it-official-2000-2010-was-a-
lost-economic-decade
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade00.html

8. http://visualeconsite.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/extremeinequalitychart.jpg
Economy:
The Wealth Gap
A widening gap
between the incomes
of 90% of Americans
and the top 10%
reflects an economy
where large
corporations and the
very wealthy continue
to grow and thrive,
while most workers
suffer stagnant wages,
high rates of income
tax (which the rich
avoid by loopholes
and congressional
mandates), and a job
market where low
wage service sector
employment
predominates. If this
trend continues
unabated, the
economy may collapse
as dramatically as it
did in 1929, plunging
the U.S. and the world
into a financial
disaster.

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