The March of Progress

Based on anecdotal evidence, the watch is an endangered specie, at least among those humans born into the cellular phone age. They get their chronological updates from their cell phone.

This generation communicates with their circle of friends via text-messaging. I have heard that an alert friend, upon spotting a DUI trap, will text to their group of friends….everyone gets the message at the same time.

They (and I) use their phone’s calendar functions to keep up with daily tasks.

The Agricoli recently ventured out on a Saturday night to hear a favorite bluegrass bound at a popular venue. Amazed was I to see to ubiquitous and frequent checks of cellular devices. Checking time or getting updates from friends? Doesn’t matter, the cell phone is THE necessary device for almost everyone.

Today brings this snippet (packet) of information:

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the phasing out of the cartography division that serves the California State Automobile Association. By the end of the year, the twelve-person cartographic unit will be disbanded with mapping services done only by AAA’s national headquarters in Heathrow, Florida. The cause for the demise is the widespread availability of online map directions and in-car navigation units which cut demand for the paper maps by 13% in 2007. The high degree of research needed to keep current with local changes in roadways and street name changes leads some to question how well the national office will be able to provide accurate local maps. “I don’t know if (AAA has) the resources, now that this is suddenly dumped in their laps,” said Curtis Carroll, sales and marketing director of Benchmark Maps, also in Medford, Ore. Carroll further predicated highly detailed local papers maps will be a thing of the past: “Street maps with the level of detail as we know it on a paper sheet may not be with us in a decade,” Carroll said.

And then there is this:

The days of standalone GPS devices may be numbered. At least, that’s what cell phone vendors and service providers would have you believe.It turns out they may be right. In the span of about a year, we went from almost no GPS-enabled handsets to close to half of all available models including the navigation features. And that number will only increase, with GPS radios becoming standard in 2008 much like cell phone cameras became the norm back in 2004.

Anybody under the age of, say, 40, is comfortable and adept with these developments. For almost everyone else, who have not kept up, the technology and usage are unfamiliar and unfathomable. When I talk with my peers about technology, the comment often falls into the generic reply: “Why do I need that stuff? I’ve got a watch that works just fine, I know where everything is in this town, and if I need to talk to somebody I call them…”

They SO do not get it……..