Yesterday I indulged a guilty pleasure and curled up with an old movie. I watched the 1998 classic “You’ve got Mail”. What struck me was how much we have changed in the 15 years since the movie was made. Here are just some of the obvious ones:
CHANGE #1 - the way we meet people online.
In the movie, Kathleen Kelly is emailing Joe Fox who she met in an “over 30s” chat room on AOL. They use dial up to connect and check emails. Today most couples come together through the hundreds (maybe thousands) of online dating sites. We all know people now who have met online. I don’t think anyone uses chat rooms or dial up anymore. Email is giving way to text messaging, but is still popular.
CHANGE #2 - Mega Book stores …They were on the rise (now they are in decline)
Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) runs the mega-bookstore “Fox Books” that puts Kathleen Kelly’s (Meg Ryan’s) little bookstore out of business. Now fifteen years later, it is the big bookstores that are being put out of business by the Internet Bookstores. Would the fictional “Fox Books” follow the same fate as “Borders Books” did? Consumer have majorly changed the way they purchase and consume books.
I had a friend recently tell me that she doesn’t like to buy books in bookstores because she can’t read the reviews posted by others. She’ll shop entirely online or call up the book reviews while shopping in a bookstore.
CHANGE #3 - Technology keeps marching on
The character in the movie Frank Navasky is a journalist. He hates technology and proudly uses his typewriter. Fifteen years later, typewriters have all found their way into the dumpsters and the field of journalism is in crisis. His anti-technology rants didn’t keep the Internet from changing the way he makes his living. Here is an exchange between Frank and Kathleen:
Frank: Listen to this (reading the paper) “The entire work force of the State of Virginia had to have solitaire removed from their computers because they hadn’t done any work in six weeks.
Kathleen: That is so sad.
Frank: You know what this is, what we’re seeing here? It’s the end of Western civilization as we know it.
Kathleen: Oh, hey, aren’t you late?
Frank: Technology. Name me one thing --one!-- that we’ve gain from technology.
Kathleen: Saran wrap.
Frank: That’s one (points at her computers). You think that that machine is your friend, but it’s not.
Of course Facebook has changed how we think of the computer and friends. This movie pre-dates social networking and I think the character Frank had no idea what was coming. Solitaire was the tip of the iceberg for using the computer to waste time on the computer. Angry birds and other online games has changed how many of us entertain ourselves.
CHANGE #4 - Starbucks is the dominant coffee shop
The character Joe Fox says “The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.”
The Starbucks in my town have closed. There are many more choices now. And of course, a coffee is not $2.95 but more like $5.50.
CHANGE #5 - People are not afraid to “Put themselves out there” online.
Joe and Kathleen are anonymous in their chatting. “Stranger Danger” rang much louder in the earlier days of the Internet. People don’t think about setting up a Facebook profile and loading up pictures and personal information. Here is the exchange between Joe and Kathleen about being anonymous:
Joe: Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquets of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms.
Technology has changed the world in the last fifteen years... I wonder what's coming next?
