Definition
The Digital Revolution is the rapid shift, from the mid-twentieth century onward, from mechanical and analogue technologies to digital electronics, computing, and networked information. It is sometimes called the Third Industrial Revolution or the Information Age.
Its milestones include the transistor, the personal computer, the internet, the World Wide Web, the mobile phone, and the smartphone. Together these turned information into something that could be created, copied, and shared almost instantly and at almost no cost.
Why it matters
How it works
The revolution rests on a few core advances. The transistor and the integrated circuit made computing power small, cheap, and reliable. The internet connected computers into a global network, and the World Wide Web made that network usable for everyone. Mobile devices then put networked computing in billions of pockets.
Each layer built on the last. Falling costs and rising capability — often described by the steady doubling of computing power over time — meant that digital tools spread into nearly every domain of economic and social life within a few decades.