This year marks Airfoil’s 17th birthday. In terms of technological evolution, those 17 years have felt more like a century. When Airfoil first took flight in 2000, the world was still “recovering” from the Y2K bug. DVD players were just starting to become affordable, and the iPod didn’t yet exist. And perhaps most telling, only about half of American adults used the internet.

Today’s world isn’t just miles ahead of 2000 in terms of tech usage and capabilities, it’s a world largely defined by technology. Mobile devices, wireless connectivity and social networks have changed the ways we communicate, interact and work. More than half of the businesses on Forbes’ list of the top 10 most-valuable brands are tech companies. And here in Detroit, we’re on the verge of a tech revolution that could impact the world as much as the now-ubiquitous smartphone.

Long story short, there have been so many changes to the world over the past 17 years that it’s hard to narrow them down to a short list. But we did! Here are 17 monumental technological changes we’ve seen since the dawn of Airfoil, all of which have shaped our daily lives, our workplaces and the PR industry in general.