10+ Pieces of Tech You Use Before Breakfast Without Even Realizing It

17 Jul 2025 #misc

In many ways, we’re living in the best time in history.

Yes, some leaders are suspiciously looking at each other with a finger ready to press a red button. But, centuries ago, people died from diseases we treat today with pills we can freely buy at any grocery store.

Tech has advanced so much that we barely notice how many gadgets and breakthroughs we use before breakfast. I’ll be counting them as we go.

Waking up

At 7:00 AM, your smartphone (#1) rings to wake you up.

You don’t use an alarm clock anymore. A few hours before that, your AC (#2) automatically turned off after regulating your room’s temperature. Or maybe you have a fan, but I’m still counting #2.

After waking up, you didn’t stop to notice you have electricity (#3) at home and a comfy mattress (#4). That used to be a privilege reserved for kings.

In the bathroom

After waking up, without running away from hungry lions, you walk to your bathroom.

You use the faucet and brush your teeth with clean water (#5). You do your “business” in a toilet (#6), using paper.

Romans used, I mean shared, a sponge-tipped stick in public bathrooms. “Augustus, are you done with the sponge? It’s my time!” Soooo disgusting. Thanks, Marcus Aurelius for all your wisdom. But I don’t want to live in your time.

And when you’re done, one button press. Poof, like magic, your “business” disappears. We’ve built complex plumbing to get rid of it (#7), that we don’t even care what happens after pressing that button.

In the kitchen

A glass of water first thing after waking up?

A company has collected, purified, and distributed water from who knows where to bring it to your home (#8). We’ve perfected engineering and chemistry to make that happen.

To really wake up, a cup of coffee, right? You use a coffee machine (#9). Coffee beans grown in Latin America likely traveled to Switzerland to become capsules for your machine.

Not into coffee? Sure. What about some tea? A water heater! Or a fresh orange juice? You have a juice maker for that.

What about some eggs and toast with that coffee? You open your fridge (#10), then pull out your toaster from the counter (#11), and use your stove.

And just to finish your morning routine, what about some vitamins and supplements? Packed with calcium, magnesium, zinc, and more, everything your body needs in one pill (#12).

And there’s a whole lot of physics, electronics, engineering, global shipping, medicine, chemistry… just for breakfast. And we’re not even dreaming about the future with robotics, automation, and AI. We’re already in the future. It’s here

OK, I told you about 10 pieces of tech, but I ended up counting 12. There’s probably more I forgot to count.