The paper provides a comprehensive survey of the Internet of Things (IoT), covering its architectures, protocols, and applications. It introduces a novel taxonomy for IoT technologies, highlighting key technologies and profiling applications that can significantly improve human life, especially for the differently abled and the elderly. The authors discuss various IoT architectures, including three-layer and five-layer models, cloud and fog computing, and social IoT (SloT). They also delve into the types of sensors and actuators used in IoT, such as mobile phone-based sensors, medical sensors, neural sensors, environmental and chemical sensors, and RFID tags. The paper addresses the challenges of data preprocessing and communication in IoT, emphasizing the importance of fog computing for low latency and real-time responses. Additionally, it explores communication technologies like NFC, WSNs, and the IoT network protocol stack, including IEEE 802.15.4 and 6LoWPAN. The survey aims to provide a balanced and detailed overview of IoT, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the field.The paper provides a comprehensive survey of the Internet of Things (IoT), covering its architectures, protocols, and applications. It introduces a novel taxonomy for IoT technologies, highlighting key technologies and profiling applications that can significantly improve human life, especially for the differently abled and the elderly. The authors discuss various IoT architectures, including three-layer and five-layer models, cloud and fog computing, and social IoT (SloT). They also delve into the types of sensors and actuators used in IoT, such as mobile phone-based sensors, medical sensors, neural sensors, environmental and chemical sensors, and RFID tags. The paper addresses the challenges of data preprocessing and communication in IoT, emphasizing the importance of fog computing for low latency and real-time responses. Additionally, it explores communication technologies like NFC, WSNs, and the IoT network protocol stack, including IEEE 802.15.4 and 6LoWPAN. The survey aims to provide a balanced and detailed overview of IoT, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the field.