Companies are forced to use technology and the internet everyday because what's worked in the past, works no longer. Compared with 10 years ago, think of how much more time you spend on the internet and how much less time you spend watching TV. Social Networking sites have become a new way of driving business that are different from the TV machine of the past. Companies are constantly looking for new ways to send business to their locations and social networking sites seem to be part of the answer where TV and magazine ads have failed.
In addition, I can't remember the last time I had a cashier check me out at the grocery store. Or spoke to someone behind the counter at the airport. I'm using a self check-out and a self check-in while I had more time to update my facebook status in an effort not to speak to anyone in real life. Am I upset that it's becoming less human? Not really, these little interactions were never anything I looked forward too anyway.
On a side note, I'd say that google talk definitely has a chance to compete with Skype. I'm not sure how many users are on Skype at the moment, but 1,000,000 calls in the first day of operation is no joke for a company that just started out with a technology. I know I'm signing up for it and have never used Skype in the past.
I think it's very interesting how many of those "little interactions" have been done away with as technology increases. As much as I hate the idea that maybe we are becoming a society of one, it almost aggravates me now to have things come up that I have to go out of my way to fix or do, instead of using the computer or a smartphone. Even little things like ordering pizza, we do online or on smartphones now just so we don't have to do it over the phone. It's really crazy!
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