It seems like every time the following statement is uttered, "X gigabytes?  I'll never fill that amount of space," we find another way to fill up digital storage space. 

In 1998, my family got its first internet-connected computer.  It had a 10 GB hard drive.  We thought, "We'll never fill that amount of space."  Sure enough, with each new version of Windows and each new digital hobby (mp3s in this case), 10 GB filled up fast. 

I had a similar thought with my laptop in college.  It was around 12 GB, and I knew I could fill it up, but I doubted it would happen.  Then I was introduced to software bloat, where each new version of a program comes packed with more and more useless cruft, taking up more and more precious storage space. 

My current laptop has a 60 GB hard drive.  I recently noticed it was about 85% full.  How is that even possible?  I don't have much digital music, I hardly have any software, and I don't download movies.  It turns out Windows XP takes up a good 8 GB somehow, and five years of digital pictures definitely add up (especially when the resolution keeps increasing).  Oh, and seasons 2 and 3 of the Office don't help.  But that still leaves 20 GB unaccounted for. 

As technology advances and storage space multiplies, we keep finding ways to fill it up.  It started with mp3s.  It went to digital pictures.  Then it went to higher resolution digital pictures (with larger file sizes).  Then it went to movies.  Then it went to TV shows.  I wonder what we'll fill the first terabyte hard drive with? #technology