If I Keep (and Occasionally Use) Obsolete Items, Does That Make Me Obsolete too?

My answer is below.

This was a fun article I read on MSN a couple of days ago. I used 30 of the 32 products in this list or 93.8 percent.  In fact, I still know how to use every one of the 30 products. 

It is a fascinating list. So many of the items were cutting edge to me when I first used one.  Examples are the fax machine, pager, answering machine, calculator watch, and GPS devices.  

It was 1986 when my office got its first fax machine. I worked for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and the address was 700 Throckmorton.  What an amazing machine. You could send a document any where in the world that had a fax machine to receive it. You could tell how good the other location's fax and phone line was by the speed your fax moved paper through the feeder. 

My calculator watch was a gift from my dad. It was silver, thick, and heavy. It also had a game, something like space invaders.  

The answering machine and pager meant you did not have to stay in an office or at home to get a call. If you did you could call the person back. 

Finally, the GPS device. I used my first on in 2003 on a business call trip in New York City and New Jersey.  It cost and extra $25 per day and were only available on a Jaguar and Volvo sedan. But it was vital to me.  Trying to follow a map and drive in that part of the U.S. and an unfamiliar area to me, was impossible.  The GPS was like having my wife next to me and giving me directions.  The GPS had one advantage, it did not raise its voice when I made the wrong turn. It simply said "recalculating".

Some of the obsolete items were immensely unique. One I miss, the old yellow pages. What a great way to find a product or service.  

It was a thrill to use most of these on the list.  For example, I love the sound of a typewriter when in use. And note the difference between a manual (what I learned to type on) and an electric typewriter.  

The old rotary phones had a very unique sound as you dialed a number.  In fact, who remembers who you gave your phone number to some one else.  It was letters of the alphabet for the first two and numbers for the rest.  As in my phone number was "Mutual 45007." This translates into 684-5507.

Now, I wonder what is next. 

Our homes and businesses are full of obsolete items. This will be a growing list.  It is fun to look at what is considered obsolete and what has replaced it. I think the smart phone in some form or fashion replaced 26 of the items on the list. 

Link to the website:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/finance-companies/32-products-you-never-thought-would-be-obsolete/ss-BBMR0F8

My answer:  

No. In fact, consider me a historian.  I know how to use an item you may find in an antique store (assuming these stores still exist).  Many of the people I know much younger than me will not even know what any of those items are called. 

A Riddle: What Creates and Destroys at the Same Time?

If you are a Star Trek movie fan (the James. T. Kirk era) the answer is Genesis.  At least that is what Dr. McCoy said in Star Trek:  The Wrath of Khan.  However, for this post the answer is change. 

This article (link is below) caught my attention. It is an article about 49 companies Amazon may drive out of business.   My thanks to Kiplinger for this insightful analysis.  I went through the list and thought about how I knew and 26 of the firms on the following list.  That represents 53.1 percent of the companies.  

That is mind boggling to me.  So in my life, 53 percent of services I used or stores I patronized could cease to exist.  It is so hard to believe.

I think it is yet another example (or 49 to be exact) of the pace of change and that it is constant. It makes no difference if you like it or not, it will happen.  If you accept that change is inevitable (and I do), then you should also consider not all change is good.  How many times have you seen people change something about themselves?  I leave this to your imagination. 

Perhaps equally important, change creates and destroys.  By this I mean change brings about innovation and progress, and leaves behind destruction and legacies.

In economic development the change that so many store front businesses may close or cease operations, we must ask what is next.  Some localities are innovative with excess space, some developers buy an abandoned mall and convert it to new use or uses, and some dynamic regions fill the space quickly with new tenants.  And finally, some space just stays vacant and eventually decays. 

Along the same vein, thousands of jobs will be eliminated, but not the people.  How can we better find gainful employment for these individuals?  Are our training programs aligned with the current economy?

As you can see, I do not have any answers. I do this, we must accept change. Indeed we must embrace it. But we must also look for creative ways to manage change and the destruction that is often left in its wake. 

The list of companies:

https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/investing/T052-S001-49-companies-amazon-could-destroy-1-already-has/index.html