myurbandream | (no subject)

I just had a surreal experience.

I was reading a preview of a book called "Always On" by Brian Chen, a reporter for Wired (here's the link on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Always-iPhone-Unlocked-Anything-Anytime-Anywhere-Future/dp/0306819600/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2 ). It's about how the iPhone has totally changed not only the world of technology but how we interact with the physical world - how the internet and smartphones and mobile devices have changed every aspect of our lives, from education to business, and how they're affecting economy from multiple directions.

And then I finished that and read an article from Businessweek about the failure of the US Postal Service. (that one's here - http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_23/b4231060885070.htm ) The article explains how, thanks to the internet, the USPS ships more junk mail ("job security") than regular mail, how the volume of snail mail is falling like a rock, how the USPS is belly-up to its unions and not allowed to lay off employees or close branches that are taking a loss. In fact, the entire postal system is taking a loss. They've been borrowing money from the government to stay afloat, but the prediction is that the USPS will be totally defunct by this time next year, unless they adapt as postal systems in Europe have already done.

The overlap was a bit surprising. Cool stuff, y'all.

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Fascinating -- whenever I read a Sherlock Holmes story and imbue myself with Victorian London's ambiance, I think of their 'only two posts delivered daily, Holmes, it's disgraceful!' comments -- and a sign of the times.

Speaking anecdotally, Spouse's business has used USPS since 1990 and has had only 1 package lost in 21 years and needing to go to claim insurance, which came through. Since 1990, the sheer speed of delivery has increased while their prices have stayed reasonable. Rarely, the FedEx and UPS systems are used and naturally their prices are higher. I do like UPS's automatic insurance on packages, though.

http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Together-Expect-Technology-Other/dp/0465010210

Sherry Turkle's Alone Together is a book that Youngest couldn't put down and I've noticed him drawing back a bit from texting and such on his iPhone. Of course, he's maturing at 20 and learning the place of machines in life's grander scheme. It's been gratifying to see this. I myself am a little behind in the maturity department, because the internet makes me squee so many times, from fanfiction to making art to sending emails and getting responses right now. I don't do the chat thing much so I'd probably be even more wired then.

I am wondering if you're going to read the book when it comes out?

I'm not doubting the effectiveness of the USPS - but their business model isn't sufficient to maintain themselves, let alone be economically competitive with FedEx/UPS. I knew, in a vague way, that the postal system can't be doing well now that email has become so mainstream, but that article really brought it home for me. I had no idea how serious their situation was, and not even the foggiest notion of how foreign systems worked in comparison. Shocking!

I've always been a little sickened by how much technology has a grip on the lives of my own and younger generations - imho there's an identified generational gap between my parents, myself (I'm 23), and pre-teens, marked by how intuitively we integrate technology into our daily routine. I find it a bit disturbing, honestly.

I have already pre-ordered Always On!! The prologue was available to read and it totally sold me - the author has a really engaging narrative style and his information, even just in the prologue, was pretty gripping. His book covers a lot of the topics that I've been wondering about, vague thoughts I've had about how technology is changing us so much on so many different levels, and I can't wait to see what interesting facts he's dug up about it all. From what I read about Alone Together (thanks for the link!) it looks to be the same way. I wonder if the Apple Bookstore has an iBook format....

I don't know how foreign systems work so I shall read your linked article.

Your welcome to the link -- I've skimmed the Turkle book and as a mom, have loads of anecdotes to relate. Maybe I'll write her? I don't know.

My own mom, at 80, loved Earthlink's dedicated e-mail machine; she emailed her cousins and friends from her home in CA to their location in NE and was just so happy! Then Earthlink went out of business and she couldn't get the hang of even /turning on/ her laptop without me or my sister there to hold her hand, and I'm 75 miles away. So, I'm sad that now she won't even try to be online without help, and happy that at her age *now 86* she has had email for some years now, even with help to access it. She uses the mp3 player I got her pretty well and her mobile phone, etc. It might be my Americanism showing, but when either she or I conquer a new bit of technology, I am gratified that we can 'keep up'.

That is exactly what I'm talking about! There are some older people that I work with - definitely my parents' generation - and some of them have no idea what they're doing on a computer. Others have been really dedicated about keeping up with technology, like you said - but sometimes there's still that half-second delay, that "this is a foreign concept, it doesn't come naturally to me" moment. I am starting to feel that way in comparison to people in my own generation, too - it's one thing to know a program or a piece of technology because you've studied it and played around and gotten to know it over time. It's another thing entirely to just intuitively pick it up and use it, to wonder "can I do this?" and then find the "obvious" solution. My sis-in-law did that to me on my iPad yesterday, and it was kinda depressing.

Here's an anecdote for you: a mom I know was driving her young daughter and daughter's friends to a social thing (I can't remember if it was a Girl Scouts meeting or a sports game, but something like that). I think it was mom and daughter and five other girls, and the mom was telling me how astounded she was at how quiet the girls were in the back of the van for the whole ride - no laughing, no giggling, no singing, no talk of boys or books or anything. And then she looked back and saw every single one of them on their cellphones, texting. They were having entire conversations, not just with girls in other vehicles, but also each other, without saying a word.

It simply boggles my mind.