Edited by Ann Marie Elpa
Just last week I went to a hotel that allowed me to do a virtual check-in and receive a virtual room key. Two months before that, I read about Amazon’s opening of two cashier-free stores in New York City. And I of course cannot forget that I mobile order Starbucks at least once week, allowing me to walk into a store and leave without talking to a single person. It seems as though the more places we look, the more technology has enabled consumers to serve themselves – this is what I call the Dependently Independent Consumer. Technology has become so deeply ingrained into every aspect of our lives that we have increased our reliance on it. Simultaneously, the need for human interaction has declined. Will we ever stop trying to do everything ourselves or will a time come when the service industry is obsolete?
Being a complex and new concept, there are numerous viewpoints. On one hand, it can be said that the increased presence and use of technology allows for more jobs that manage the creating, developing, maintenance and repairing of it. Contrastingly however, the capabilities and efficiency levels of technology has reduced the need for humans. Although new jobs are being created while others are becoming obsolete, there is no guarantee that these job creation numbers are equal to those being replaced. Furthermore, working in a technology job often requires specialized skills which those who would work in the service industry may not have. Oftentimes the first job for a young teenager or adult is in service, working as a waiter, cashier or sales associate. In this instance one may begin to wonder whether finding a job will become increasingly difficult. Will society reach a point where you need a specialized degree just to get a job? And in that case, has technology really made our lives easier?
Beyond changes to workplace distribution and education, automated services have also altered consumer habits over time. For instance, people are found using online shopping at any stage of the buying process whether it be simply searching for products, reading reviews, comparing options, making a purchase or even returning. Having worked in a retail store for nearly four years, I have also seen customer patterns change in that short amount of time. I worked my first Black Friday in 2015 and one of my most prominent memories is the lineup that was so long it reached the door and set off the sensor alarm for most of the day. Fast forward to four Black Fridays later, in 2018, and the lineup is nowhere near as long. Instead of removing sensors from products before they could reach the door, I was in the back room packaging online orders all weekend. The effects of technological changes definitely start to become much more real after experiencing it firsthand.
This is only one example and I am positive there are other jobs and consumer habits facing similar trends. The library, for instance, is much more different than it used to be. I am sure we are all too familiar with a parent telling us how we have it so easy because we can do research on a laptop, computer or even smartphone without having to search through hundreds of books. The library still may be used, but definitely not in the same ways. With most resources on a computer, there is minimal need for a librarian or the time spent pouring over books. We often hear our parents telling us how technology has changed how they used to do things, one can only imagine the impact it will have on the way that we do things in just a few years.
So where is technology taking us? What skills will we need for jobs in the future? How will we change the way we live? Apparently the Jonas Brothers have been to the Year 3000, maybe we can ask them.