This post was inspired by Kathleen Daniels, Probate & Trust Specialist and Gary Frimann, CRS, GRI, SRES
The advent of the Internet certainly has changed the world as we once knew it particularly having grown up in the 1960’s and early1970’s. Without giving away my age, I have witnessed it from inception to the present day while some of the younger generations are reading up on it via Google or history books. The purpose of this post is to write about what went to the wayside, at least for me personally, so here goes.
What first comes to mind is when I was just entering high school when a door-to-door salesman came to our home hard selling my father to buy the Encyclopedia Britannica series. The pitch was to assure that ‘his son’ would do better in school. It was an exorbitant price for entire set, which we really couldn’t afford, so instead my dad bought the two-volume dictionary. On the few occasions that I need an encyclopedia for reference, I managed to go to the local library and use the set they had on hand. The dictionaries were lost over the course of numerous moves over the years. Clearly the Internet has replaced the need for the series of heavy books; with a few keystrokes the Internet and Google can have the answers for you in a matter of seconds.
Fast forward a few years later. As a Cadet at West Point, the Engineering Course required a slide ruler to do the calculations. But the following semester, a new tool came on the market - a Texas Instruments SR50, more commonly known as a calculator! I paid $150 for it as I was too frugal to buy the HP45 Hewlett Packard model which was in fact better for Engineering Classes.
The following semester we had access to a Computer Room at the Academy. I can’t help but laugh when I think back how the computers were taking up the entire room and needed air conditioning to prevent them from overheating. Diane shared that she worked on Mag Cards – I’m not that old!
In the 1990’s I remember the excitement of having a Blackberry and holding a phone and the Internet in the palm of my hand.
While most of these changes are for the good and made my access to knowledge much easier and then later improved upon my client service, it has also caused what I call a society of “Instant Gratification”. At the onset, I worked with local potential clients whose needs went a bit beyond the standard 9-5 mentality. Next people from global time zones began reaching out for relocation representation to the Greater Los Angeles area, and of course not taking into consideration time zone differences. Fortunately email communications has at least somewhat eliminated phone calls at all hours. As a Beverly Hills Realtor, and also being fluent in German and Hungarian, I developed a niche for international buyers & sellers. The advent of DocuSign has also added to my life becoming easier to conduct business.
The point of the post, with all that was gained, I feel that we have lost any semblance of down time, rest and relaxation. Most of us cannot fathom vacations unless we are certain that wherever we go, we will have access to the internet, preferably high speed at that. When my mother, father and I would sit down to dinner, there were never any distractions; while we still have dinner time, my phone is always in my back pocket. And I have become a book collector vs. a reader. And working from home is great! Unless of course there is a glitch with the Internet connection and then I am scurrying to fix it.
I have become a better time blocker and scheduler of important phone calls. I remain a work in progress since I am always passionate about client service in Real Estate. And so like everything, everything has its plusses and minuses, even the Internet. At this point, could we ever live without it?
Wishing you a safe and healthy life and I look forward to your comments. If you are looking for a knowledgeable, focused and goal-oriented Realtor in the Beverly Hills area who will help you achieve your Real Estate goals, please reach out to me directly! If you are looking for a pet friendly Beverly Hills Realtor who can handle and sell the most difficult properties that no one else could, please reach out to me directly!! If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury home, luxury investment real estate, luxury vacation homes, or luxury beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu, feel free to contact me at 310.486.1002 ( m) homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com I contribute a portion of my commission to local animal rescue organizations. Endre Barath, Jr. Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services
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