Tech is changing our lives
Kaity Holtman
In the newspaper business, we discuss quite frequently how technology and social media are changing our industry.
If they hurt us, it’s our own fault. Somewhere up the timeline, someone started giving news away for free. That trend has made it very difficult for the rest of us not to follow suit, if we want to keep our news in front of our readers.
Now, it’s very hard to get readers to pay for news. It’s a catch-22 in that we don’t want to fall behind so we have to be available online, but that those are real subscription dollars we need to provide the service readers want.
I often say, if I could figure out the answer to this struggle, I’d be a millionaire.
And while I’m used to discussing that in terms of the newspaper industry, I sometimes forget that it can have an impact on other industries.
Retail is the most obvious. Online shopping has made a huge impact on the retail world.
On one hand, it makes it hard for small businesses to keep up with prices that online “big-dogs” can offer because they have products in bulk and can deliver to any doorstep in two days.
On another hand, if the small business can find opportunity, technology can allow small businesses to sell, or at least market, their product to people outside their “local” area.
Other industries to consider are those that actually work in technology.
Take cellular phone companies for example. They probably thrived on the days of signing everyone up for a cell phone. Now, I don’t know anyone from teenage to senior years that doesn’t have a cell phone. Sure, we all have to update our products, but no generation is entering the cell phone world in the masses now.
Bookstores and music stores are closing everywhere we look – another sign of the times, and one that I think is really sad.
But when I think about how sad it is, I then realize, well, I don’t patronize those types of places anymore. And it’s not because I don’t read or listen to music. It’s because I stream music online and subscribe in my car, and because I order books online, borrow from friends, or buy when I’m already in someplace like Target getting other things I need.
We now order groceries, and sometimes even to-go supper, online.
Now, I do not tend to be nostalgic or overly sentimental when it comes to material things or moving on for the sake of progress.
Times change, and we take a step into another time.
There is a reason we drive cars instead of horse-drawn buggies. There is a reason we have central air in our homes.
Our cultures and our lives evolve over the years, usually because of progress. That’s how it is, and we survive and move on.
But the fact that I’m not nostalgic doesn’t mean I don’t ponder how this will affect us all.
Where will the people who work in these retail locations go after they close down?
How will less human interaction impact our social development?
How will we teach our children to communicate out from behind a screen when we can do so many things on those screens?
How will rural communities thrive, or even survive, as their small businesses struggle?
How will small businesses in cities succeed in connecting to customers when we aren’t as social?
While I’m sure we will all figure out as a human race, I am curious to see what our world will look like in 20 years.
Young people now look to careers like social media manager, director of marketing, brand ambassador, and many other similar titles. While numbers of those types of jobs are growing and providing new opportunities, those positions are not necessarily built on hard skills, but on soft skills like “networking.”
I can say this, because this is partially what my career is built on.
But if everyone can sit at a desk, behind a computer, all day, why would we want to learn technical skills that our world needs? Running an automotive garage, farming, or working as a lineman is hard work, sweaty work, physically exhausting work.
Our communities need people with these technical skills in order to keep business as local as possible.
Now, I will admit there are a lot of important skills that go into making technology work and even advance. But for those of us in positions like mine, we do a lot of trial and error for those in our workplaces that need help.
I do part of what I do because technology is here and allows me to. And I do all of it the WAY I do it because technology has made it so. Technology has created a job opportunity for me, and I appreciate that.
There is a lot of both good and bad that comes with the changes of technology. We can complain about it and say, “well it used to be this way, back in my day,” among other common complaints I hear a lot.
Or, we can embrace it and figure out how to make it an opportunity instead of a threat.
And we can also continue to support local business, even in the face of online convenience.
There is a place for it all. Change is inevitable. We’ll still be alright 10, 20, 50 years down the road, but life will look a little different. Then again, when does it really stay the same?
