In this day and age, Mr. Postman delivering mails is no longer the usual sight in the neighborhood. This may be attributed to the advent of electronic messaging, fax messaging, text messaging, internet messaging and mail forwarding services that bring the mails to their destination within 24 hours. Postage mailing is rapidly losing ground in the area of mailing services. Its usual two-three days waiting period can never cope with the speed of new message sending modes. Although sometimes legal documents in a country like ours have to be sent via registered mail, these constitute only about 10 per cent of the mails that were used to be sent by post.
Postage stamp collections will then truly become collector's items since only a few gets hold of stamps nowadays. My grandmother used to collect stamps which were all dated before and during 1970s. Nobody among her grandchildren cared to assume her collection after she passed away. I was so young then, I was only six years old. I don't even know what happened to the stamps. It would have been a source of family pride had someone took the hobby after her.
Plight of Photo Films and Developing Centers
In photography, digital cameras are now the in thing. Photo films are no longer as in demand as before. Too bad for the photo film manufacturers, who had to come up with better offer or diversify to other kinds of business. Digital cameras are more practical to use since pictures taken may be deleted, edited and saved on the computer. The photographer may select which picture to print out, thus saving on ink and photo paper.
The other gadget that competes with the digital cameras is the mobile phone. This is another hurdle that photo film manufacturers have to contend with. In some cases, mobile phones offer better deals than digital cameras. High end mobile phones have more features than that of digital cameras, although some people still prefer to use the digital cameras for taking pictures. With these gadgets dominating the photography industry, photo films are somewhat threatened toward extinction.
Less Paper Usage
But one welcome effect of advanced technology is the reduced need for paper. Paper comes from trees in the forests whose rapid depletion has become a global concern. With the growing acceptance of transferring “soft copies” and “e-copies” of documents among offices, paper usage is thankfully decreased. Soft copies refer to documents saved and transferred through disks while e-copies are documents transferred via electronic mails.
In academic and training institutions, the distribution of handouts in mimeographed paper or photocopies to students and participants, respectively, is no longer a must. Presentations using LCD projectors and copies distributed through disks and e-mails now become a more practical and facilitative method to use.
Blessing in Disguise
Just like the saying goes, there are two sides of the coin. The introduction of something new may be a threat to the other's existence. But it is not always as bad as it may seem. If one takes a really good look at things, it can also be a blessing in disguise, what seems to be a disadvantage can turn into a big advantage in the end.
