The Big Thing People Are Missing

My weird journey through life has led me to North Carolina, and most of the people I interact with on a day to day level have lived a much different life than I have.  They're good people, but most have worked normal jobs, often one job for decades.  Most of these people are older than me, and grew up in the Industrial Age that was still dominant in our society when I was a kid.  Many of the civic leaders here in this area, and many other small cities, towns, and rural areas are still lamenting the farm economy that has changed drastically in their lives, and the factories which have shut down in their communities.  This part of North Carolina I live in now was a major player in tobacco, textiles, furniture building, and what NASCAR racing.  Those industries, except NASCAR, have largely moved their factories overseas.  The leaders, both local and statewide, are working hard to bring back good paying factory jobs. 

And that's the point I'm getting at today.  We used to live in a nation where the huge middle class worked at factories in their area.  That was the end of the industrial age.  To paraphrase internet expert and entrepreneur Seth Godin, "People used to be able make above average pay for average work, those days are over."  But a huge number of people in this country, many in leadership roles, are clinging to the memories of the world they grew up in.  They're not adapting to the world we're in now.  Right now, we're in a long, weird transition phase between the Industrial Age and the Information Age.  Old business models and social constructions are imploding as technology opens up opportunities for other business models and social constructs.  On one hand, most of the people around here have smart phones.  But I don't know anyone else around here who publishes a blog.  I can't afford a smart phone right now, but I publish two blogs and am starting another one soon.  My
point here is that everyday people start using the technology that's helping to change our world so dramatically, but most use it only as a consumer.  These technologies are changing the very way we communicate, which is leading to an incredible amount of opportunities in business, social movements, and other aspects of society.  But most people are so used to the status quo, that they stick to their old way of working, but with quicker communication.  Meanwhile, the future is being built by people looking at the possibilities that technology makes possible, and figuring out new ways to do things. 

As an example, how do you watch TV and movies these days?  Do you go to the theater to see every new movie that interests you?  Do you set aside a couple hours on Monday night to watch Dancing With The Stars?  Or do you record shows on a DVR and watch them when you have the time?  When's the last time you went to the video store and rented a VHS movie to watch that night?  Or do your kids watch movies on tablets in the back seat of your car while you shuttle them to baseball and dance practice? 

I'll be honest, I was pretty much a Luddite from the mid-1990's until 2008.  I was a taxi driver for much of that time, and I hated the continual change of technology.  I didn't keep up with what was happening and I didn't learn new technology as it became available.  Then, the taxi industry collapsed in California, years before Uber came into the picture.  I wound up in a small town in North Carolina wondering what had happened.  I'm a writer at heart, and I looked for ways to make money with writing.  But the whole writing world had completely changed because of technology and the social changes that went along with that technology.  So I started a blog, mostly just to vent.  That began a long process of self education about how to work in this technological world we now live in.  I started writing again using the internet and other tools now available.  I still don't make a living with my writing, but I'm heading in that direction.  I built a following online, quite by accident at first, and began to build my own little (very little) publishing empire point down the road, I should be able to make a decent living on the  from the platform I'm now building.

My point is this: Are you still clinging to the notion of the Indutrial Age world you grew up in?  Are you still looking for a job where someone pays you a lot of money and gives you benefits for doing what they tell you all day?  Or are you adapting and learning about this new, rapidly changing world, and charting your own course into the future?  Very few of the old factory jobs will ever come back.  Today's world belongs to those people who are willing to take risks and try new things as the opportunities arise.  Are you prepared to work in the world that's evolving now?























point is that peo

The Double Edged Sword of Technology

My first real introduction to the internet came in the late 1990's when I worked as a clerk in a store with a guy named Tommy.  Tommy was in a rock band called Brat Prince, and often invited me over for their post show parties.  One night someone said, "Hey, check this out," and pulled me into one of the bedrooms.  Sitting at a computer was a drunk fan of the band.  Behind him were half a dozen other drunk rockers.  On the computer screen (it was a desktop with a big, heavy monitor) were several small pictures of other drunk and stoned rockers from around the world.  "That guy's from Norway," the guy at the computer laughed, "How cool is that?"  I'll be honest, I wasn't very impressed.  I didn't think much of the whole internet thing then.

I'm a smart guy, and a definite geek, but I've never been a computer geek.  I just didn't understand how computers worked, and I wasn't very interested in learning.  I would learn the software I had to know at each new job, but I didn't learn much more.  My interests were in other places, such as BMX bikes, skateboarding, success, and human potential.  I had a "wait and see" attitude when it came to the internet.  Then I became a taxi driver.  I spent all my time in a cab, had virtually no free time, and went to the library when I wanted to get on a computer.  This was in the early and mid 2000's, and I had to pay $5 an hour to use a computer at the Huntington Beach library.  Then, in 2003, my taxi company put computers in our taxis.  It completely changed the dispatch system and how taxi driving worked.  In short, the computers took fares away from good cab drivers and gave them to bad cab drivers.  In addition, the computers allowed the taxi companies to put many more cabs on the road, and that meant less business for each driver.  Computers killed taxi driving.  In 2000 I worked three days a week and could pay all my bills, live cheap, and have four days off.  In 2004 I had to work seven days a week, and I lived in my taxi because I couldn't afford to rent an apartment.  I struggled on until late 2007, then became homeless because I just couldn't make it driving a taxi anymore, and I couldn't find another job.  It didn't matter how hard and smart I worked, technology changed the industry in a huge way.  I'm just one of millions of people who have been displaced by technology in the last 20 years.

Long after I left taxi driving, Uber and Lyft came into the picture, changing the personal transportation industry even more.  During these last fifteen years, the internet has matured after the Dot Com Crash.  In addition things like podcasts, blogging, and social media have drastically changed both society and business.  Along with those came cell phones which have now evolved into pocket sized computers that would have amazed Captain Kirk in those early Star Trek episodes.  This incredible amount of technological change begs the question:  How do we live in this rapidly changing world?  Most people now can't imagine living without their smart phones that have only been in existence a few years.  At the same time, companies they work for are struggling to figure out how to advertise and keep customers in a world where 30 second TV commercials don't work so well anymore.  Anyone remember Kodak?  They employed thousands of people and ruled the camera and film industry.  As I understand it, Kodak went bankrupt the same month that Instagram was bought by Facebook for a billion dollars.  Thousands of hard working people lost their jobs because management at Kodak didn't see the digital photo revolution coming.  How well does the company you work for keep up with technology?

To most of us, technology has become a double edged sword.  On one hand we have devices and online networks that allow us to do many things we couldn't before.  On the other hand, these same technologies could make our jobs obsolete, or at least endangered.  How well do you keep on top of the rapid advancement of technology?  How well does the top management of your company keep up?  Has your industry gone through major changes due to technology?  If it hasn't, will it happen soon?

I've gone through a year of living on the streets and several years of unemployment because I didn't feel like trying to keep up with technology.  Now I spend a good chunk of my time reading and listening to YouTube lectures to learn more about how technology is changing the world, and where I can use my particular skills in this ever-changing world.  Are you doing the same?