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As technology molds people’s lives more predominantly – and quickly – than at any time in the past, it’s reasonable to question where all of this leads. Already, the world’s information is at people’s fingertips for the majority of any given day. As a result, people are losing fundamental skills and adopting the more modern ways. It’s impossible to make a judgment call about this being either a good or a bad thing; it is happening, and that is the point to focus upon. Much as horses were replaced by automobiles to the distress of buggy manufacturers everywhere, technology has marched on with nary a backward glance.
So it has gone throughout most of human history, where improvements and adaptation have long gone hand in hand. And at no point in history have the technological changes arrived so quickly. Perhaps one of the benchmarks has been the advent of media players. In a long-gone era, devices half the size of a paperback book played music on tape format. Going digital, the portable cd player offered better access to music and higher fidelity in a slightly larger size. These bulky players soon fell from favor.
The iPod brought a resurgence to the personal, portable music listening industry. Soon thereafter, iPods offered full media capability, with tiny screens proudly displaying full length movies, plus audio, to the captive audience of one. Unlike previous technologies, the advancement arrived in ever smaller packages. Infatuation with tiny devices like prepaid cell phones and tablets seemingly capable of doing anything involved with entertainment spread like wildfire. It is now to the point that it’s impossible to visit a metropolitan area and not see this technology on display.
