Remember shoe boxes of 3×5 or 4×6 photographs. What about that vast collection of CDs you use to have? Has your book collection grown stagnate? If so, you may be experiencing the effect of technology on our stuff. We no longer have real, tangible items in our possession. Instead, we have devices that connect us to our virtual photos, music, books, etc. Even now, I am working at replacing my physical books with PDFs and Kindle books. I am looking at the convenience of technology to help me lighten my book library.
Is this a good thing? Can’t say one way or the other. It’s great that I can take as many pictures as my device allows and view them immediately. I know if I got the shot I wanted. Yet, I’ll never hold them or tuck them away in a book or my wallet. They will reside in a virtual cloud in someone else’s place. Of course, it is not the end of these tangible treasures we have. I still have a few photos in a shoebox, but they too are making the gradual transition to the digital world.
We could really sum it up in one word- change. Change is happening and our children will think nothing different of storing their photos on a smart phone or in the cloud for that matter. With technology changing our world at a dizzying pace, it’s good to remind ourselves about where we came from and where we are going.