While we often hear buzz about big scientific and technological advances long before we see them, we can also find that some of the quickest advances are also the quietest.
For instance, we're mostly still used to having cashiers check out our items for us, but our first experience with a self-checkout station kind of snuck up on us, didn't it? Suddenly, the computer was facing us and we had to imitate what we had seen the cashiers do all those times.
And for the majority of those who participated in one study, the age of self-checkout hardly seems like much of an advancement at all.