Some more economic concerns

Reading an article on the demise of several commonplace items, I remain concerned about the economy, particularly as related to the long-term future. Things are changing and much of it relates to the burgeoning usage of technology and its far-ranging benefits. Some of it also relates to people and how society will respond to various opportunities. Know that I am generally optimistic about the future, confident that initiative, ingenuity, and creativity will correct the growing economic concerns. Yet for the short haul, the economic challenges are likely to continue. What follows may seem trivial in some ways until we think of the mass globalization of the products and the changes thereto.

Television sets. We are nearing the point when episodes, concerts, and unlimited movies are available on tablet computers, internet resources, cell phones, and virtually any electronic device with access to the net. The result of this kind of instant entertainment may likely be similar to holding a book or keeping a wallet with you at at all times. This may devalue those wonderful moments of group movie watching family get togethers for television show, but with projection and a computer, and with all movies and shows available with a click or two, the idea of a television set is mobile. Anywhere, anytime. There may be a day when the television is a horse and buggy.

Watches. Sitting in the waiting room at the oil change place, I glanced at cell phone to check the time. A man I did not know began to chuckle and mentioned that he quit wearing his watch several months earlier due to looking at his phone for the time. Without realizing it, I was doing the same thing. I came home, took off my nice watch, placed it in the drawer, and have not worn it since. My watch is my phone. No longer concerned with finding my watch in the mornings, awkwardly putting it around my wrist, and worrying about it catching on something in the day, I now do not need it. Watch sells are plummeting and people are beginning to recognize they do not need a watch. Obviously some still prefer a watch on the wrist, and many treat a watch as a form of a decoration such as a necklace or a ring. But the future for watches is dismal, being replaced by mobile technology.

Wallets. This one is still out of my reach since I use my wallet for so much including carrying cash, pictures, credit cards, gift cards, drivers license, and various discount cards. But with a cash free world right around the corner, and with scanning systems that rival real physical cards, there is no doubt that the future of the wallet is at stake. Most, if not all cards, can be be on a cell phone and there is no need for real-time swiping with accuracte access codes. Pictures and licenses can all be on a cell phone not to mention codes and apps for almost anything needed.

If we then consider the factories, the workers, the multitude of tasks required to make the three products mentioned, and we add in packaging, delivery, shelf space, repairmen, parts, time spent, we suddenly realize the dramatic economic change that technology is exacting on the world. It all takes its toll on labor, on supply and demand, and ultimately the economy.