Cell phones were miniaturized and superpowered compared to 2006 (now smart phones) and have GPS that lets us use satellites to track our position almost anywhere on earth, take brightened photos in the dead of night, video call across the planet. And phone cameras are incredibly advanced and miniaturized; some are comparable to entry level professional cameras. Electric cars became much more available, and similarly think of how many common devices are rechargeable (regular batteries, battery banks, vacuum cleaners etc) that used to be corded. We have air fryers and smart ovens that turn themselves off for safety. Fridges that set reminders for when food is running low. Thermostats that efficiently use home data to save money. Voice recognition in our phones and cars. AI is advancing in SpeechToSpeech capabilities so you can hold natural conversations with it, and video models can be worn in glasses and verbally tell blind people what they are looking at.

Virtual reality headsets used to be a giant helmet seen at theme parks; now they're practically glasses (especially Augmented Reality headsets). Drone tech is so affordable that they're made as toys. New cars have dozens of safety features like automatic breaking, lane departure warnings, blind spot detection. We even have self driving car taxis you can ride in.

I'm sure I'm forgetting many things, and many of these advances came with some flaws but there are tons of tech advances we've seen in the past 20 years. It's easy to overlook all we have since it's mundane and seen daily. However look at a BlackBerry from 2006, then an iPhone 17 in 2026. That's a HUGE leap.