The difference in lighting today

It's been a long time since Thomas Edison gave us that little gift that slowly took candles from necessity to decoration. We've since come a long way, from gas lights through incandescent and on to compact fluorescent and now LED.

Each iteration has brought improvements in terms of such things as energy use and longevity. Today's, LED bulbs have a lifespan of roughly twenty years so changing them is almost unheard of. They are also full bright when you switch them on which is a big step up from the compact fluorescents we'd just grown used to. Those were almost like watching a sunrise.

Today's bulbs are definitely a huge improvement and a product Edison would not recognize, but technology is always on the move and before those twenty years are up there may well be something else. What that will be is anyone's guess, but no doubt there's a lab somewhere working on it.

Below you will find an image that illustrates just how far we've come in recent history. It's a fascinating look at how time flies. My kids never saw LPs, cassettes and certainly not 8 tracks. Theirs may never even see LED.

Photo Credit: Sengled