Digital Revolution

The Digital Revolution marked a shift from mechanical and analogue technology to digital electronics, information storage and retrieval, sparked by the invention and gradual adoption of transistors which then led to the adoption of microprocessors and communication technology as well as the Internet. The Digital Revolution marked the start of the Information Age. Tracing back to Charles Babbage's analytical engine and the telegraph, computers gradually evolved from purely research-oriented machines to those that aid in industrial, scientific, military and statistical tasks. Bell Labs engineer Mohamed M. Atalla demonstrated silicon's benefits as a semiconductor, sparking a computing industry. Federico Faggin penned the Intel 4004, a microprocessor released in 1971 which led to the microcomputer revolution in the 1970s.

Prior to the Internet with Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web, precursor networks such as the ARPANET allowed for communication between different computer networks. Home computers became a mainstream commodity, typists evolved into data entry clerks, factories started to rely on automation with computer-controlled machines and robots, and children became engrossed in the latest video games powered by microprocessors.

As with previous eras it also led to a change in almost all aspects of day-to-day living, from the way we eat to how we conduct business, though it too has its fair share of concerns from privacy, copyright infringement and preservation of cultural, literary and technological heritage. Criminals have taken advantage of technology for nefarious deeds such as spam, fraud and illicit materials, and it has also led to fears of surveillance and espionage.

Sources cited:
1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip. Retrieved from https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/
Miklós, V. Forgotten arcade games let you shoot space men and catch live lobsters. (2015, April 17). Retrieved from http://io9.com/forgotten-arcade-games-let-you-shoot-space-men-and-catc-513560652
John Markoff (22 November 2002). "Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans". The New York Times.
Cyra Master (10 April 2009). "Media Insiders Say Internet Hurts Journalism". The Atlantic. Retrieved 17 April 2015.