Today’s video was created in 2011. It is a fascinating look at things that have all but disappeared due to technological advances. (What makes this video even more incredible is that it is actually a book trailer.)
The question for today is: What other things have disappeared in the last nine years?
I can think of one: the Amazon Fire Phone.
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What Will You Read Today?
External USB drives replaced with cloud storage, i.e. Dropbox and Google Drive.
So true about cursive handwriting! Most of my students either print their notes or insist on typing them. They consider cursive writing akin to hieroglyphics!
Many of those things still exist, though in modified form. Encyclopedias may no longer be printed, but they exist. I suspect that much online dating is still blind dating (what century was that picture taken?) and you would be amazed at the deals a travel agent can still find.
My musician friends tell me that, in physical sales, vinyl LPs now vastly outsell CDs.
Vinyl is making a comeback. Album art is relevant again!! I bought every Yes album as much for the Roger Dean artwork as for the music.
I had thought that ebooks would replace physical books but my daughter far prefers a physical book . . . she wouldn’t read mine unless I printed out all 97000 words for her . . . kids nowadays.
Disappeared: Tourists with expensive SLRs hanging from their necks?
Steve:
The better question for your audience is not, “What other things have disappeared?”
Authors should be asking, “What compelling viral video can I create that naturally and clearly earns the right to point to my book?”
For instance, for the book you negotiated for me with DaySpring, The Jesus Dare, I could imagine images of all kinds of misrepresentations of what it means to be a Christian, and then “poof” all those mistaken notions are cleared up with one little book. I could probably write that in a day and produce it for a thousand bucks. Will I? Probably not.
I’ll keep you posted! (If you know a good cheap video producer, let me know.)
I know someone who produces video for church (countdowns and background loops of God’s creation) and would help for free . . . no guarantee he is up to the task, but can’t argue with the price 🙂
Well Steven, you’ve got me curious now. I don’t want to take advantage, but I’d love to chat with this talented individual. Track me down at jaypayleitner@me.com. Or have him contact me. Hey, we’re all in this together!
I still use many of those things. Fewer people may use them because of technology, but as long as they still exist as a choice, some of us will be die-hards. One thing I see as vanishing because of technology is Patience. And I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to not appreciating “the wait.”
That was a fun video, even if to remind myself that I may be old, but I’m not dead. *smile*
Cursive writing? Yes, an elderly friend of ours went to the bank to see why they withdrew $46 instead of the $40 he wrote on his check. They said, “Oh, you didn’t close the “0” on the forty. It looked like a six.”
He replied, “But you’re supposed to read the writing on the line below it.”
Their answer? “Our younger tellers can’t read cursive.”
That’s progress? I wrote a satire blog post about it called “Cousin Rufus’s Problems with Progress: at https://www.armchairwit.com/single-post/2020/01/20/Cousin-Rufuss-Problems-with-Progress?fbclid=IwAR2T88xmmB8qI1lQG64SW73EEbb-v2gZP19Ltl5gdh0lYhM_N70uZAFiyRA
As has been said above, I use many of those items today.
I love maps, and if I was taking a trip, I would be referring to a map. Can’t stand GPS. It sometimes takes you way out of your way or in the wrong direction altogether.
Cursive writing is very important (love the comment about the check error). It’s what sets humans apart from animals for one, and our handwriting sets us apart from each other. I love signing my novels.
People’s attention spans are still there, mostly very shortened for the younger generation, but they’re not the only people in the world. I have a very good attention span.
I also have a very good day planner which I use every day to check up on things to do for the week, and to jot a quick note on a particular day. The LT doesn’t have to be turned on if I’m not working on it, and a program doesn’t have to be pulled up. The planner is right next to my LT.
Face to face conversations are a must if you are to learn communicating with your readers when you meet them. And I try to do that as often as time and distance permits.
My Dictaphone is still a part of my writer’s equipment. It’s used when I don’t have a paper or pen/pencil handy next to my bed and wake up with a story idea, or when I’m exercising and a thought strikes me.
My husband channel surfs every day. And he does have a “smart” phone.
Spelling skills are another thing a writer needs. You can’t rely 100% on editing or edit programs to catch everything. You touched on that yourself in an article, Steve. The English language is so complex. We have words that have many different spelling, sound the same, but all mean something different.
And that brings us to the need for having a dictionary at my desk. I don’t look up everything online. Sometimes it’s just faster to pull the dictionary off the shelf next to me and look for the word.
Granted, I have a lot of these items because I don’t use a smart phone (or dumb phone, as I refer to it). Had one. Hated it. I love my simple phone with no internet on it. It’s for calls.
And last, but not least, I love my outdoor thermometer. Tells me what the temperature in my particular area on the back porch or my yard is at a glance.
Someone needs to edit that video. 🙂
My manly physique . . .