Technology, Friend or Foe

Beware!! Technology is a Double-Edged Sword

The announcement by JC Penney that they will close 140 stores puts an exclamation point on what is happening with the way we shop in America and even around the world.

The internet has brought about many changes in the way we live and communicate. One of the biggest changes to our way of living is the availability of goods from around the world through online shopping. Brick-and-mortar shopping venues are disappearing as more and more people take to the internet to purchase what they need. Delivery can happen within a day or two and very soon may happen within hours with the availability of drone delivery from strategically placed warehouses around the country.

Amazon and Walmart are already battling it out for domination of the online market and we can expect many more retailers to switch their focus to the internet for the sale of their goods and services. This is not a new phenomenon. The transition has been going on for over a decade and is now reaching a level that will not reverse course. We can expect to see more brick-and-mortar stores closing up as more and more shoppers and retailers switch to doing their business online.

Retailers are not the only types of businesses that are affected. Look at what has happened in the movie industry. More and more movies and TV-type series are produced to be seen online, through Netflix, Hulu, and other outlets available on your computer.

What does the future hold? As we see online shopping increase we will see the shopping malls all but disappear and be replaced by large warehouses full of goods ready for delivery by drone within hours of placing your order. Malls will eventually be empty and repurposed for homeless shelters or converted to condominium projects as the online shopping trend continues into the future.

There will be “stores” where you can go to get a hands-on experience and can order what you want by waving your phone over a bar code. Checkout counters in the few stores that remain will be unnecessary because your phone or electronic device will automatically charge the item you choose to your bank account and transfer the payment just like a debit card does.

I may not see the full extent of these changes, but my kids and grandchildren certainly will.

Where will it end? The sky is the limit and in many ways, while we may laud the technology that makes this available to us, there could be a tragic side as well.

Social contact, as we have already seen is reduced, and we depend on electronic devices to communicate with one another. The reduction in personal contact, I’m afraid, is what is responsible for much of the hatred we are seeing around the country and world. Without personal contact, we lose that human connection and empathy for our fellow man/woman and think nothing of committing violence against one another. However, this is a subject for another time. We must beware of where we are going, or we could become the victims of our own advancements in technology.

Many of the things I mention here have happened on a small scale, but in the extremely near future, we will see these things happen quickly. For instance, as I drove into town one day I noticed that the hotel; I stayed at on my wedding day is now luxury apartments and the malls are losing tenants almost daily.

Steven Spielberg had it right when he said, “Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we're too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone. “