I’m starting to worry about the future. Everywhere you go things are turning into self service, screens are replacing books and actual conversations and you don’t even have to go out anymore, things get delivered to you. But where will it end – will we all end up hermits locked to a computer screen forgetting how to talk to each other?!
Years ago you arrived at the petrol station and an attendant filled you up and checked tyres etc. Now you have to do it all yourself and can pay at the pump on your card so you don’t have to speak to anyone.
You used to go into a shop and read out what you needed and the assistant packed it all for you. Now we have self-service tills at supermarkets, although they never fully work and a shop assistant needs to be on hand to help you but they may sort that out in time 
It all reminds me of the film Wall-e where people are cuising around space for years stuck in chairs with screens and getting very large in the process …
Is this the future?
Vix
xx
Julia (AKA Jules)
/ May 5, 2011I’m actually very scared that this will be the future. For someone who finds it hard to communicate this will only undo my hard work, and, if this carries on, teens of tomorrow will only know how to communicate via electronic means! And, don’t get me started on self-service tills!!!!!
x
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011I know, they are all so tech savy now and will grow up in a world where that’s all they can do!
egills
/ May 5, 2011Argh you had to mention the self service tills didn’t you? The bane of my life with all it’s shouting at me telling me there’s an unexpected item in the packing area…
Me? I need to talk, I’ll talk to anyone, I’m not fussy, I’ll talk to the wall if I don’t have anyone real to talk to
And privately I think others also need to talk, even if it is via a pc – look at peoples status’s on FB or Twitter. Not only do they need to talk they need the world to see it. Just a shame it’s normally spelt wrong
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Haha sorry! They are so annoying
Love that you’d talk to the wall, your reality TV show would be hilarious!
Gian Carlo
/ May 5, 2011It also reminded me of WALL-e just before I even read that it reminded you of WALL-e, too. I hope we’ll not end that way where people doesn’t know how to stand anymore.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Ah another Wall-e fan
Me too!
nrhatch
/ May 5, 2011Me too. I was just talking about Wall-E the other day:
Have you ever seen the movie Pleasantville? It’s a dystopian society where everything is PERFECT. But it’s a gray world, lacking in color and vitality.
Another movie that is a combination of both Dystopia and Post-Apocolyse . . . WALL-E. Very deep for a kid flick. Lots of layers. Like an onion.
To read Maggie’s post:
http://maasmith7.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/dystopian-vs-post-apocalyptic-ya-literature/
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Welcome! Yeah I have seen that one, they get colour in the end. I loved Wall-e Disney can be deep
jessicabarlow
/ May 5, 2011Great post. It is scary to imagine a world like this, but scarier still to realise how it could feasibly occur with current knowledge surrounding technology… I’m sure it won’t happen but perhaps it will allow people who don’t want to interact with others much easier ways to avoid interaction.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Thanks! I know, it is scary but hopefully it won’t.
barb19
/ May 5, 2011What a scary thought, but it seems to be going that way.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011eek!
Lisa
/ May 5, 2011Excellent post. Sadly I think it is the future, unless we do something about it. But what can be done? It actually relates to the post I was going to write for today about lack of communication skills and respect. I’ll link to you if I ever get it written.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Thanks! I’m not sure if anything can be done either, pretty depressing. Look forward to reading it!
Souzapalooza
/ May 5, 2011I hope that isn’t the future! It is sad that the internet/technology is supposed to make the world smaller, but I didn’t think they meant a world of one!
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Me too!
Sophia @ Raven Waves
/ May 5, 2011Ugh, I think the worst things are those nooks! I could never give up my books to read them off of screen. I hope we don’t get progressively worse but when I look at my bro’s generation, he’s 17, all they do is text, play video games and go on Facebook. No one is outside playing anymore.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011I would hate to give my books too! It’s such a shame they don’t get out and about now, hard to imagine we grew up with none of those things!
Riverside Man
/ May 5, 2011Exellent post. For those of us who are not tekkies it is getting harder to do the simplest thing. Luckily I can still fill up my car
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011And you can blog
Maggie
/ May 5, 2011Work from home jobs where you never have to leave the house are also becoming more prevalent. I fear that in the future, even our employers will be screens. *shivers*
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011I wouldn’t mind if my job was writing best sellers tho
nrhatch
/ May 5, 2011Hi Maggie! Imagine meeting you here. Before seeing your face, I posted a link to our discussion about Wall-E (above).
Actually, I see lots of familiar faces here . . . I must be late to the party.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Haha I’m glad you found us all!
SuziCate
/ May 5, 2011Sadly, it does seem to be the future. lat year, my sister lost her job as she was replaced by a computer. That computer doesn’t smile or sweet with a soft tone…though we think we are “so connected” we are actually less connected on a personal level than ever!
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011Wow that is horrid!
simplyshaka
/ May 5, 2011I hate all the self service thing–especially at the grocery store! They always mess up, don’t read my item and then I end up yelling at the machine. So yeah, I choose to go to actual people when checking out. I like to think of it as supporting business and not just machines.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011I can just picture you yelling at it hilarious!
katielabovitz
/ May 5, 2011I saw Sophia’s comment above about nooks and I totally agree! There was a nook commercial on TV the other night where a kid had fallen asleep while reading a story on her nook… what?!?! I shouted “Books, not nooks!” at the television before I could think about what I was doing/saying
I love the feel and smell of books too much to use a nook. Books are a sort of comfort food. I mean, I know the words are the same in book or nook form, but there is something about the physical act of opening up a book to that spot where you left off, and diving back into someone else’s story for awhile.
Great post – it is very comforting to know that there are other people who are worried about our future and (over)reliance on technology for tasks that can easily be done person-to-person.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011I completely agree, I really hope we never lose books, it would be so sad. Thanks Katie, I’m glad you guys feel the same way!
elvishjesusfreak
/ May 5, 2011I’m scared for our future too! It’s so true, and sad! I wish we could go back to where everyone talked to their neighbors and people in stores all the time instead of everyone being in a hurry all the time! Great post!
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011So true. People even used to leave their doors open
elvishjesusfreak
/ May 5, 2011Oh I know! I wish it was still safe to do that!
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011We’d totally get robbed!
Melissa's Meanderings
/ May 5, 2011How scary!! I hope that doesn’t become our future! The problem with so much lack of inter-personal relations is that humanity seems to be losing it’s capacity for compassion. We are turning into machines ourselves:(
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011That’s really scary!
....the little thread of thoughts
/ May 5, 2011Sadly, that seems the future. Somehow, I kind of feel that even conversation will become obsolete. Unless, we go back to the good old days of grocery shopping,gas stations with a cherry and a lift of the cap saying, how do y’ do ? Talk about the impossible happening.
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011It is sad! Ah I want that, maybe we should open a retro garage
Deborah the Closet Monster
/ May 5, 2011I loved seeing it in WALL-E, but I do not love the idea of seeing it in real life! There’s a lot to be said for taking a few steps on one’s own feet, as well as transacting with human beings. Sometimes those simple transactions are enough to ease the loneliness of wondering if anyone really sees you . . .
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011That’s a beautiful thought!
the domestic fringe
/ May 5, 2011It looks like it’s turning into the future! We’re getting better at being social with a screen than we are with our fellow humans.
I don’t know if you write fiction (I just followed a link to a link and ended up on your blog), but I am hosting a blog party called Fiction Friday. It’s a way writer’s or wannabe writers like myself can share their work. I’d love for you to join if it interests you.
-FringeGirl
http://thedomesticfringe.com/2011/04/29/its-coming-to-a-blog-near-you/
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011If only the screen talked back
I will check that out thank you, I am an aspiring writer!
Rosa
/ May 5, 2011As much as I love talking on the phone, texting, facebooking… I still Crave human interaction!! I hate that things have become so automated and impersonal. A few years back, I was a receptionist. I was laid off and replaced with an automated answering service… And they asked ME to be the recorded voice! Talk about adding insult to injury!!
I found your blog through Spirit Lights the Way… Off to read more of your posts now!
Rosa
vixter2010
/ May 5, 2011OMG that really sucks, the world is getting crazy! I’m glad you found me, I shall pop over to yours
littlecurio
/ May 6, 2011Oh so true! I freaked when I saw those self-service lanes at the supermarket, I was torn between convenience of getting things done yourself quickly or saving people’s jobs! I’d love to know the statistics for the past 20 years or so on how many jobs have been lost to machines. I think Disney is so deep too!
vixter2010
/ May 6, 2011Yeah that would be really intertesing, I suspect it’s only going to increase!
Surrey gal
/ May 6, 2011Our world is becoming less and less personal. And more and more automatized (is that a word?). I’m not even going to think what future holds because I’d get scared. I’m only hoping it won’t be when I am alive!
vixter2010
/ May 6, 2011I think that’s a word
You might get a second life tho lol!
countingducks
/ May 6, 2011Enjoy your blog. Owing to a sublime moment of technical incompetence I have managed to delete my old blog “Riverman”, and salvaging what I can become “Counting Ducks” Oops
vixter2010
/ May 6, 2011Welcome and thanks! Ah no nightmare, glad you salvaged some of it!
Bonnie
/ May 6, 2011This is so true, Vix! Electronic do-it-yourself devices seem to be everywhere. Excellent thought-provoking post!
vixter2010
/ May 6, 2011Thanks hun!
Sandi Ormsby
/ May 7, 2011It’s corporate america- they don’t want to pay for full time employees. That’s how the self-serve check out lane was introduced.
Now they have 1 checker open, and 1 person near the self-service areas. Every once in awhile, they will toss a 2nd person at the register…and then they return to produce or stocking shelves.
I like the self- check out for Target/Walmart because the lines are so long. However, that damn “unexpected item in checking area” OR “Place the item in your bag” and there isn’t enough room, so you move things around and the system thinks you’re ripping them off, and then locks up…SO, I only use them for items 5 or less.
Sandi
http://www.ahhsome.wordpress.com
P.S. We’ve put the movie Walle on 3x and I can never get past the first 30 minutes. I think I’ve walked into my kids room when the “blobs” were floating around typing and communicating vs. looking at each other! That would NEVER happen in my world! I talk to much.
vixter2010
/ May 7, 2011Haha good plan! Ah Wall-ee is really good you should watch it all!