Home mail delivery — a familiar part of Canadian life for more than a century — will soon share something in common with buggy whips, floppy disks and VHS tapes: obsolescence.
If Canada Post is struggling to find its identity in the Internet age, the Crown corporation is not alone. The current pace of change has many predicting the rapid demise of not only handwritten letters but land line phones, cable TV subscriptions and even books and light switches.
“We live in a world where technology enters our life, becomes a part of our life and then, boom, it’s gone,” said Jim Carroll, a trends and innovation expert with clients that include NASA, Microsoft and Motorola.
“Stuff is part of ‘the olden days’ faster than ever before.”
Land line phones — once deemed essential — are increasingly becoming irrelevant as younger users rely on cellphones or technologies such as Skype to communicate.
In some ways, the “classic land line” is already following in the footsteps of the rotary dial, said Tom Keenan, a professor in the University of Calgary’s faculty of environmental design.
“We are moving toward the idea of calling a ‘person’ as opposed to calling a place,” he said.
“In the future, as phones merge with wristbands and smart watches, the land line will become a curiosity and houses will be built without them. Certainly, kids born today will take their kids to Heritage Park to see one.”
Click here to read the full story by Tamara Gignac in the Calgary Herald.
Image courtesy of Mark Humphrey, AP.