The 20th century was noted for things such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines, TVs, and cars.
If you were still hand-washing your laundry, riding a horse, or using candles, people in the 20th century would say you were living in the 1800s.
The 21st century has become characterized by the Internet, mobile phones, messenger apps, and social networks.
The Internet lets you access all human knowledge. You can work or run your own business online, get an online education, or teach online.
Through social networks, you can find friends, a job, relationships, a hobby group, etc. You can get to know almost any person in the world, and ask them for advice or help. You can make friends with people from all over the world, visit them, invite them over, or go on trips together.
You can chat in messenger apps with your friends, brothers, sisters, parents, and relatives, no matter where they are. Free two-way video communication from any point on the globe is something people couldn't even have dreamed about 20 years ago. Now it is available to almost everyone.
Google Street View lets you take a virtual stroll down the streets of any city in any country. You can choose the place where you want to spend the rest of your life and then move there. Virtual reality technology lets us visit museums and attractions, and even travel to the past or the future.
Modern smartphones let their owners talk to people or text them, send pictures, look up information on the web, and install hundreds of thousands of free apps. And what else? Make video calls, listen to music, watch videos, take videos or photos, find your location on a map, track the location of others, use calendar apps, socialize on social networks, and, of course, upvote posts with cute kitten pics.
You can learn a foreign language in a year by listening to audio courses or practicing with an app during your commute. Any information, any textbook is available online. Want to watch subtitled video lectures from world’s best colleges? No problem: enjoy.
You can write a book, upload it to Amazon.com and earn a fortune. For a few hundred dollars, you can have your own website developed or promote your services on a hot marketplace in order to run a global online business.
So there's no reason for living in the 20th century, waiting for somebody to tell you what to learn, when to take your exams, what to do, and where to live! It's up to you. Opportunities to change your life are everywhere.
Let's finish with an old joke:
Once upon a time, there was a terrible flood. Everybody was trying to escape, except for a pious old man who stayed at home and prayed.
People in a truck driving by shouted to him,
"Jump in, save yourself!"
"I've been praying and keeping God's commandments all my life. God will save me," said the stranded man.
When the water went up to his windows, a rowboat came by. Same offer, same response.
Then the water reached the roof. The man kept praying on the rooftop.
A helicopter came by. Again, same offer, same answer. Finally, the man drowned and went to Heaven, where he reproached God:
"I've prayed and been good all my life. Why did You let me drown?"
"I sent you a truck, a rowboat, and a helicopter. What more did you expect?"
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