It was about 3 in the morning when I had to get up and go to the restroom. It’s an age thing… Anyway, as I lay back down, a thought popped into my head.
How much longer before the Internet becomes our only avenue of communication?
Before I delve into future speculation, you might ask why would I think of such a question? My wife and I were discussing our latest cable bill last night. We had recently switched everything (cable, phone, Internet) to one company to get their “bundled” savings. For on year, at least. Next year, I will switch back to their competitor for another year of “bundled” new customer savings. Why should I be a “loyal” customer when they try to screw me over once I am that “loyal” customer. How much am I saving? About $60 a month. For one year. Along with my cell phone bill (4 cell phones, no “smart phones”), I am spending over $3000 a YEAR. Just to communicate with the outside world and watch television.
hmmm. When I was a kid, my parents had a… phone bill. Average of perhaps $20 a month. For the convenience of take-it-with-you phone service, huge amounts of never-watched-channels, and digital TV, I get to pay 13 times more than my parents did.
Simply amazing.
Finally, back to my original question. How do we interact with the outside world? Not counting face-to-face communication.
- Postal service. Does anyone send snail-mail anymore? Long live Email, Instant Messaging, Personal Messaging, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. Long live the Internet!
- Faxing. Some of the younger audience may not even know what a fax (facsimile) is. Replaced by word processor/Email and Photocopy/Email. Again, long live the Internet!
- Land lines. We have one. Only because my wife does daycare. No daycare would mean no land-line. DSL from your phone company may be keeping land lines around… for awhile yet. The replacement? Your cell phone. Perhaps you call it your “smart” phone. May not be quite the Internet yet, but the next ISP-of-choice may become your cell phone company. It is happening right now. The Internet is an integral part of your “smart” phone. Smart phones means the end of personal computers. Down the road a bit, but it is coming. Long live the Internet! Or maybe the “cell” phone.
- Television. In the US, the big 3 are becoming less and less important. They have already diversified into the cable offerings. But for how long will OTA and/or cable “tele” last? Internet TV is still in its infancy, quality-wise. Give it a few more years and how relevant will cable be? Long live the Internet!
Which leads us to… the Internet. Tomorrow’s Internet will all be wifi based. And as I alluded to above, all “smart” phone based. The end of the “traditional” PC is just around the corner, IMHO. Netbook, meet “smart” phone.
Am I wrong? You tell me.
5. July 2009 at 8:57 am
i totally agree with your post! i myself believe that communication nowadays has change rapidly and everyone need to adjust…i still have friend who doesn't like when i send an invitation to a event, movie, house gathering via email and they nag about it all the time "call me next time" they said…yeah that was so 5 years ago!
One remark about landlines…Emergency calls. that i thing is the major problem with cell phones…cell phones can't handle the job on that field…i remember on a major earthquake here in Greece were our only means of communication was landlines cause cellphones were down due to overuse.
5. July 2009 at 9:32 am
I only have a cable internet service and a mobile phone. I use VOIP for outgoing calls, and my family can call my VOIP service.
I communicate with many forms over the internet, though email is usually only for incoming.
5. July 2009 at 12:12 pm
Fiber-optics will eventually leave copper and cable lines in the dust for both residential and commercial communications. The PC will become extinct and the Netbook will evolve into the future smartphone.
5. July 2009 at 12:59 pm
Agree. The Only reason desktops last this long is expandibillity. Smartphones are increasing in power with each release, im already able to watch TV on mine and video on demand (all be it over wifi). I can see the smartphone becoming very powerful in the wake of 4G
6. July 2009 at 7:53 am
unfortunately here in alaska the telco forces you to buy there "value bundle" to get the unlimted downloads. Otherwise its on 20Gb a month. So you have to get a landline , digital cable, and internet. All for the price convenientf $85 a month.
6. July 2009 at 6:14 pm
I hope traditional computers don't die. I'll need magnifying glasses if I expect to spend much time using a system with a screen smaller than 15", and even then, I prefer to hook an external monitor to my notebook when I've got it at home on my desk. In fact, when my notebook dies, I'm considering returning to a desktop machine and getting a netbook to supplement it when I'm out and about instead of just purchasing another high-powered notebook.
7. July 2009 at 3:40 pm
Think about this. You spend $3k a year communicating with the outside world. When I was a kid, we lived in this little condo. My dad's mortgage payment was $450 a month. Folks want to talk about how people can't get by on a middle incomes, it's because we almost spend more on cell phones and cable television than our folks spent on housing. We just can't compare then and now because of these things.
8. July 2009 at 9:46 am
I just worked out I sped £1560 a year on comunication. This is just rounded up/down.
£10 – TV licence
£30 – SKY
£10 – BT landline
£20 – Broadband
£60 – 2 phones (me and my partner)
With regards to the low mortgage when we were young. My mum and dad bought our house for £20000, this was 22 years ago. It's now worth £130,000. so think how much extra mortgage we have to pay these days. i pay how much i do because i can afford it, and i would say I'm the low end of middle income.
10. July 2009 at 3:29 pm
Gamers