ch 17

One of the things that stuck out at me in this chapter was the section on technology. I come from a family of farmers that still own land, and I know that the way they do things has greatly changed throughout the generations and has impacted their line of work. We have had to sell land frequently and even my mother (who is now a city-dweller) could tell you what years were important for our crops.
I feel like our world is becoming less socially based and relies too much on technology. If I call customer service, I am one of those people who presses 0 until I get a real person, and hopefully I am transferred to someone who is actually in the US. I was surprised when I called AT&T the other day and was transferred to a friendly woman who chatted with me for about an hour, even though my phone problem was a simple fix. This was refreshing knowing that there are workers who care, not just the grumpy ones who take delight in sharing their misery.
Cell phones are also part of this problem. I will admit that I rely on my phone for a lot, especially being out of state. If I want to know something, I don't have to look through papers, flip through old books, or ask around until I find the answer. I have google directly on my phone. People are constantly on their phones/tablets/computers that they don't realize what's going on outside of the screen and don't socialize through direct contact. I don't need to interact with a librarian to find an article when I can just go online at home. These instances cut out their job duties.
On this note, I am concerned with issues surrounding specific technological advances, such as e-readers. This very much cuts out the need for real, paper books. My boyfriend is currently working as a skilled book-binder and really turns it into an art, as it is a complicated process and requires new and refined skills. He has made the decision to obtain a masters in book-binding, but I am worried that it will become obsolete in the near future, although he may look into using his skills to put books online, so that he would still have a job.

Brown, D. (2012). Trends in the labor market and the factors that shape them. In Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.