The collateral damage of Technology.

Richard, all of the book stores in my area have closed down. I did purchase a Kindle for my Wife last year and she loves it. I was in real estate before the Internet. Things have really changed since then.

You have totally depressed me reminding me of this. One of my greatest joys in life has been browsing book stores and libraries... and I see so many disappearing. There really is nothing like the feel of a good book in your hands when you want to sit down, relax, and read.

You had better add a "daily newspaper" to your list . Our State's Capital - Harrisburg's daily is now published 3 times per week ! Think about that for a moment !

Richard, I miss albums too. Getting a new album and pouring over the cover art and smaller photos in detail as we listened to the music was part of the experience. The smaller, out-take photos and words gave an intimate feel to the album as if we were being included in part of the musician's experience in making that album. CD's and MP3's are not as personal. 

Yes, technology is certainly changing a lot of our day-to-day lives.   I for one love bookstores, and many of the stores that are left now sell other things in addition to books.  That's disappointing.

Technology as a proper tool creates more productivity and more free time. Those trips I used to make were to a greate xtent time wasters. Every hour we save gives us the ability to sell more, or simply spend more time paying attention to what is important. We now have over 20 items coming in on subscription from places like the Dollar Shave Club and Amazon. This saves at least three trips to a Walgreens for the basics. Sometimes I feel guilty about the free time but then I remember my proactivity in creating it. Enjoy.

Like it or not, those who like books, bookstores, and libraries are seeing less and less bookstores with books and more digital technology. I was naive to think businesses survives because of what consumers want - not true anymore.

Records were an important aspect of growing up in the 60's, as I did. Several years ago I saw some vinyl records at an art and craft show that were melted over different forms and had stuff glued to them to make wall art.  I was horrified!

Yes Richard, let me get you started on film.  I'm not much of a TV or film person, but every once in a while I would go into a Blockbuster and just spend the longest time looking through the films, until just the right one struck my fancy.  Sometimes I would go out to eat with a friend and stop at the video store, look around and have a great time socializing, pick up a movie and go home to watch it.

Now that Blockbuster has closed, and I don't know of any other video/CD store in my area, I don't know where to go and pass an enjoyable time looking for just the right movie to rent!

I feel like one of life's little pleasure has been taken away for me. 

Richard,

Thank goodness you have training in real estate, where we do things every day that we don't necessarily like.

Rich

Richard, Gone are the days of preparing a one page contract on a typewriter with carbon paper and when a buyer purchased a home the termites were included because there were no inspectors.

Does anyone know where to buy cassette tapes? This was definitely a nostalgic post and one I could relate to!

Personally, I don't see why any of the things you mentioned are bad things. If everything fell apart we would have to go back to lower tech ways, but until/unless that happens I LOVE my tech toys (and I could function w/o them if I had to).

 

I like technology ... but I like a physical book in myhands even better ... glad that music has gone the way it has ... although now I am not sure what to do with all my hundreds of tapes ... movies ... well had to get rid of my vhs becaause the new tv showed all the flaws ...  I like what is here ... but you know what ... I like to turn it all off for a few hours as much as I can and just enjoy life without all that technology ... 

Richard, my brother-in-law passed away three years ago. He left behind a rather extensive collection of old vinyl records dating back to the 30's and 40's. After much research, my sister-in-law found a home for them in a university library. No one was interested in purchasing them so she donated them. It was fortunate for this university but it makes you wonder how long they'll actually keep them.

What I do find worrisome is that schools are allowing these technology tools to be used too early in learning. What happens when we forget to teach simple math and allow our children to become even more dependent on machines without understanding the basics of arithmetic. How many kids can still do long division without a calculator? 

Amen and amen to that my friend!

Change is inevitable but I agree it doesn tmean we have to like it and some of it I truly dont!

I fondly remember going to the record store and buying all sorts of archaic technology - records, tapes, CDs, etc.  While fun at the time, they changed just like everything else.  Change is inevitable.