Has digital communication improved your life? (Mattawamkeag: storage, store, pool)

[reloop]

Originally Posted by Casper1212

Just think. It if wasn't for all these horrible digital wonders, you guys would never have met. Trade offs are trade offs, and there's no getting around it. Use the computer or cut down a tree to make paper. Use your phone to call the neighbors or pollute the air and drain our natural resources by driving over. Use a digital camera or print on paper, using chemicals that will end up in a land fill or the water supply. I communicate more frequently with my kids and relatives because my cell phone plan and my computer internet makes it practical. I have a job working from home because I can send in my work from a hundred miles away via internet. I'm keeping my 'puter! And my cell! And my DVD player! And I just LOVE the digital photo frame my son gave me! They don't pollute, they save me money, and they make less of an impact on natural resources both in their creation and the process that creates them. If they had never been developed, I wouldn't know what I was missing. Or would I? No job, seldom talking with my kids, fewer souces for research, the list goes on. And on. And on.

I don't think 'puters are horrible by any means. If anyone messes with my mp3 player, computer or printer it's h*ll to pay! And I am so enjoying the posts here.

I do have to say that IMHO they've wrecked a lot of decent paying jobs 'tho. Bangor was the lumber capital of the world in its beginning. People came from all over the world to build the mills in Millinocket. Loggers worked under dangerous conditions to get logs to the mill, mill workers worked in 24 hour shifts to get paper processed, and trees regrew because paper companies knew how to manage the forests - in addition to providing decent leases to area workers who wanted to build camps on the lake.

Of course job losses can also be attributed to NAFTA and outsourcing.

The earth is cleaner now yes, and rightly so, but yet I can't help but wonder what's going to be out there for jobs after a while.

In the 80's I had a job processing credit card payments for a bank. There were around 20 of us in one office - each person a cog in the wheel of finance. One person would open the bills, batch them and microfilm them, one person would take those batches and enter and balance them in the computer, another would file and deal with customer concerns (speaking in English I might add)...etc, etc, etc...it was a great place to work.

Electronic fund transfer has all but eliminated those types of jobs just as Electronic Medical Records spell the death knell of transcription jobs (coding will probably be next IMHO). I know that technology is providing new jobs, but someone who isn't adept at grasping new technology would do fabulously well at entering and balancing credit card payments.

I guess it's all in the 'balance' of things...who knows?

[BoundtofindME]

Before I retired 6 years ago, the last several years of my career was in Information Technology. I was required to have the latest and greatest equipment combined with continuous training in order to do my job. It is amazing how quickly your knowledge base disappears due to technological advances when you are no longer involved in that field. Today, I'm just happy to have my laptop, camera, and cell phone all of which I freely share with my DH.

[Fern435]

My husband is in the air force (close to retirement) and working in Qatar for one year. Through iGoogle/webcamera chats, we are usually able to visit once a day. It has been a tremendous help. Just 5-6 years ago, families of military members serving overseas would have to make a special arrangement to do a web/video chat (usually at a nearby military base). Now, I am able to chat with him from our home nearly every evening. Then I can come over here to catch up on the news on the Maine forum and read the Maine newspapers online.

It's almost like I don't live near DC at all! Eventually, I'll have to venture out to buy food.

So yes, right now digital communication has greatly helped my family manage a one-year deployment.

[reloop]

Originally Posted by Fern435

My husband is in the air force (close to retirement) and working in Qatar for one year. Through iGoogle/webcamera chats, we are usually able to visit once a day. It has been a tremendous help. Just 5-6 years ago, families of military members serving overseas would have to make a special arrangement to do a web/video chat (usually at a nearby military base). Now, I am able to chat with him from our home nearly every evening. Then I can come over here to catch up on the news on the Maine forum and read the Maine newspapers online.

It's almost like I don't live near DC at all! Eventually, I'll have to venture out to buy food.

So yes, right now digital communication has greatly helped my family manage a one-year deployment.

That is great . I think the webcameras for military families is wonderful. I think they make it easier for young children to cope with the separation of a parent. Definitely a plus for families with long deployments!

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by reloop

That is great . I think the webcameras for military families is wonderful. I think they make it easier for young children to cope with the separation of a parent. Definitely a plus for families with long deployments!

Yes, I agree.

Too bad such is not available for subs.

[mommax3plus2]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Yes, I agree.

Too bad such is not available for subs.

and when it is- then we will probably loose these towers and the jobs that go with that too.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by mommax3plus2

and when it is- then we will probably loose these towers and the jobs that go with that too.

Well I do not foresee Cutler Maine going anywhere for a while yet.

The technology simply does not exist yet to bring two-way comms to places underwater.

So folks living on subs or any of the sea-labs will be stuck without cell-phones or video-conferencing for a few more decades.

Bill Gates made a push over 10 years ago to shift cellphones onto a satelite backbone. It would have:
1. shrunk the physical size of cellphones,
2. gotten rid of all repeater towers,
3. opened up the coverage regions,
4. lowered the transmission wattage and lengthened battery life, and
5. lowered cost [since so much less infrastructure would be needed].

His example that he was showing were wrist-watches with cellphones built inside. He had prototypes and they looked real cool.

But congress blocked him. Less infrastructure met no more repeater towers, local cellphone corporations and techs.

[Casper1212]

Here's digital story for you. My aunt had loaned some family photos to her aunt, and she asked me to go get them back. Yeah, I know, asking for trouble. But I agree to do it because I wanted to see the photos. They are of my great grandmother and my grandmother. Anyway, I asked my great aunt for the pics, and she apologized for forgetting to return them. I took them to my daughter, who scanned them into her computer and burned three cd's. I sent one back to my aunt with her priceless photos, so that she can share without ever having to let go of her pics again. I send the second cd to my great aunt, and she's overjoyed to have her own copies of the pics. I kept the third, of course. One of the things that causes more discord among families than anything else is the possession of such priceless items as family keepsakes. Thanks to the digital age, photos and documents can at least be shared. I do a LOT of genealogy research over the internet, too, and have access to info that I would normally have to travel hundreds of miles to get.

[Casper1212]

PS Thanks to info from a cousin, I know where my 7th great grandfather is buried, and it's along our route, so I get to visit! I also have discovered where my great great grandparents are buried, also near our route. Yeeha.

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

His example that he was showing were wrist-watches with cellphones built inside. He had prototypes and they looked real cool.

Shades of Dick Tracy. Funny how some things you see when you're a kid come back in real life later.