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Here's a site which has a useful breakdown and outline of the history of technology, with its four ages:A. The Premechanical Age: 3000 B.C. – 1450 A.D.B. The Mechanical Age: 1450 – 1840C. The Electromechanical Age: 1840 – 1940D. The Electronic Age: 1940 – Presenthttp://www.tcf.ua.edu/AZ/ITHistoryOutline.htmI wonder what the next age will be called after the Electronic Age.
That seems to be the general historical term, but in terms of the history of technology, it seems the labels have to do with how work is done/power is derived. Perhaps something like the “nuclear age”, though we don't actually get most of our power from the atom. So I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. Here is what it states on that site – how the four periods are categorized:"Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output and communication problems of the time"I don't know that "digital" describes that....maybe, maybe not.
Nowadays is comnpletely different than the 80s though. Microsoft did invent GUI which we still use, but we have a lot of things digitized now…books, movies, music, photos, etc. There should be a digital age (5th generation) I think, starting like in the late 90s or so.
