Industrial Era vs. Information Era
As the world continues to develop and things change, we move into new eras. Some of these eras are significant, while others simply pass us by. Throughout our history, we have had many of these so-called eras, but two of the most important are the Industrial Era and the Informational Era. By analyzing these two eras in our world’s history, it is clear to see that some things stayed the same, yet many things changed. The Industrial Era was characterized by traditional industry and manufacturing, whereas the Informational Era is characterized by a technology driven industry and automated manufacturing.
What is now known as the Industrial Era was a changing period for the world that took place between the 18th and 19th century. During this time, there were drastic changes in agriculture, technology, transport, and manufacturing. All of these changes had amazing effects on the economy and cultures of the world. The Industrial Era marks a time when the world changed from an agrarian world economy, focused on manual labor, to an industrialized world economy, focused on machine manufacturing (History.com Staff 2009). Historians that study this period, feel that it is one of the most important times for humanity. Many even compare it to the domestication of animals and plants (History.com Staff 2009).

Though there are countless causes for this new era, historians have reduced the number of true causes to just three:
(1) This new era freed citizens from the soil. For the first time ever, people could settle down wherever they pleased because they did not need quality soil to live off of.
(2) Plummeting disease rates and lower infant mortality meant an increase in population that allowed for a larger industrial workforce.
(3) The new culture that was emerging was willing to work hard, take risks,