"I Don't Like to Talk to People"

Sometimes a statistic jumps out at you. The December 2018/January 2019 issue of the AARP Magazine , originally targeted to "old" people over 55, reported one of its studies found, "a third of Americans over age 45 are lonely." There are seven billion people in the world, I thought, how is this possible?

     Then, I remembered hearing a young person, who was ordering pizza online, say, "I don't like to talk to people." In many parts of the world, modern life makes it possible to avoid talking to people. Besides ordering food, you can make appointments, do your banking, get a boarding pass, and order just about anything, from clothes to concert tickets to a date, online. Ear buds enable a person to cut off all contact with the outside world.

     When using social media to "talk" to people, I've noticed communication often is brief. If you venture a longer comment to express an opinion, you can be misunderstood or shutdown with an insulting reaction. Back and forth discussions frequently fail to exist.

     It also has become fashionable to reject God and to glorify the kind of individualism that makes people intolerant. They stop engaging in discussions with others and accept their own ideas as Gospel. Once someone casts aside the God-given Ten Commandments or teachings of Jesus, there is no universal secular moral code for a person to follow. It's easy to claim, "unbelievers can be highly moral people," but, through the centuries, people have substituted very questionable moral codes: white Europeans are better than blacks, browns, yellows, reds, and even Jews and dirty whites; capitalists decided they were free to make their own money-making rules because it's "survival of the fittest"; Ayn Rand said tap dancing was the only acceptable form of dancing, because it relied on rational thought not emotion.

     It seems there are many paths to loneliness. And there are many destructive remedies: suicide; joining a gang; addictions to food, alcohol, gambling, video gaming, exercise, couch potato binging, sex, and work; deciding not to talk to family members or to keep up with friends who are too stupid or who reject your ideas or lifestyle or you reject theirs.

     Over the past holiday season, I've heard people say, "Thanksgiving is just another day, and I'll be able to catch up on work." But I've also seen photos of smiling friends and couples traveling to different parts in the world. I've received a CD of a friend singing in a choir, and I've seen Facebook items from a mom proud of her son's performance as a hockey goalie. My granddaughter and I baked gingerbread cookies and argued about whether to use raisins or tiny chocolate chips for reindeer eyes. She asked me to name seven of her friends. I couldn't, but now I can.



   

   

   

Weekend Retail Therapy

Shopping for new clothes on a weekend is a favorite pastime, even when it's not raining. Around the world, I see marketers adding new twists to what some call the "retail therapy" experience.

     In a mall in Kazakhstan, shoppers find an indoor river, and they can ride an indoor monorail, just like the one at Disneyland. At the Mall of America in Minneapolis, there are carnival rides and an assortment of LEGOs kids and adults can use to build whatever they want.

     Slip on a ZOZOSUIT from the Japanese retailer, ZOZO, and the stretchy black bodysuit, with the help of a mobile app, takes perfect measurements for a new outfit. In your own home, the 150 white dot sensors covering the suit enable a 3-D scan to make, for example, custom-fit jeans for online purchase at prices starting at $58. But It's only a matter of time before in store customers also might expect to use this innovation to insure a perfect fit that doesn't require additional tailoring.

     UK retailer, ASOS, already entices customers with photographs and augmented reality (AR) showing how the same outfit looks on different body types.

     Mall customers in Chinese In Time retail restrooms can use augmented reality mirrors to test makeup products before using a mobile code to purchase Lancome, Benefit, or Shu Uemura cosmetics from the vending machine next to them.

     Brands have begun to bundle products with services. Adidas sneakers serve as metro passes in Berlin. Nike's NBA Jerseys connect wearers to digital content about their favorite teams and players. A Tuxe bodysuit comes with an offer for free online business and life coaching sessions.

     At REI Co-op, customers know the clothing, footwear, and camping gear they purchase meet sustainable business practices.

     Combat Flip Flops (combatfllipflops.com) converts objects used in warfare into flip flops and accessories. Melted unexploded ordinance (UXO) become jewelry.

     Graphic T-shirts say a lot these days. Keep looking until you find the message that suits you to a "T."

   

Has DON'T Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Gone Too Far?

The absence of other customers in a store, where I was shopping, this week caused me to realize the growing number of options for NOT doing-it-yourself (DIY). Enter information about your style and size on an app, and you'll receive a selection of clothes. Decide what you want to eat and a meal to help you lose weight, a pizza, or the ingredients you need to prepare your own meal will turn up at your door. If you are willing to at least drive to a store, you can email your food, toys, or discount store shopping lists and the store will gather what you need/want and have your package ready for pick-up.

     It's not just a matter of creating apps-platforms to engage attention, technology has decided how we manage our lives. Now, there even are apps telling us to stop using apps. It doesn't take a smartphone to ask young people:

• Where would you like to travel?
• What would you like to eat?
• What is your favorite outfit? 
• What world problem would you like to solve?
• How much would you like to weigh?
• What sport do you like to play?
• What kind of song would you like to hear?
• What GPA would you like to have?
• What kind of movie would you like to see? 

Then, have young people decide how to "solve" any of these questions and begin their DIY solution. Decide on a time for them to show-off their solution (on a platform?). Or, invite original thinkers to communicate and publish their DIY ideas in a zine, hand drawn (some in the form of comics) and written (possibly as music). Also, look for a local library that has a section devoted to zines or a Zinefest, where other original thinkers share their zines.

A Fork in the Road to the Future

How should children be prepared to handle the next 70 or 80 years of their lives? Or 40-year-olds to handle their next 40 years?

The trendwatching.com site, that has spotters all over the world, found people have looked at current conditions:

• immigration
• refugee crisis
• job automation
• depressed wages
• uneven recovery
• generational divide
• racial divide
• fear of terrorism

and sorted themselves into two groups:

• Global citizens open to an interconnected world, where people learn to understand their changing relationships to neighborhoods, cities, and nations
• Nation nurturers who seek comfort in the familiar

Dealing with change, especially rapid change, is not easy. It is understandable that some want to wall themselves off from foreigners; to pretend technology is going to slow down and manufacturing jobs, as we have known them, are going to return; to listen only to broadcasts that agree with them; and to cling to traditional families where a man works and an uneducated woman stays at home with the children.  But you only need look at one example of the future -  shopping malls and stores empty of consumers of all kinds who have switched over to ordering their needs and wants online - to see change is impossible to escape. (Could these empty stores be converted to on-going world fairs where "shoppers" could go to experience and learn new technologies?)

Like it or not, children are going to live in a world of global citizens. Parents and teachers need to prepare to help them feel at home there. 

Problems Present Career Opportunities

Mobile phones, apps, and computer access are causing a boom in online shopping around the world. Where's the problem? Supply chain logistics. No wonder Amazon is experimenting with the use of drones to deliver goods. Could this system work in India?

E-commerce depends on logistics as India realized when its shipping and delivery network failed to handle the high volume of online purchases during this year's peak shopping season of Diwali, the festival of lights. With a warehouse shortage, only six dedicated cargo planes, and an average truck speed of 23 km per hour in intercity traffic, it was impossible to insure on-time delivery, especially in outlying smaller cities and towns where demand for goods not available locally was greatest. Further complicating the e-commerce business in India is the fact that credit cards are relatively new and as much as 70% of online purchases pay cash on delivery.

With online shopping expected to reach $10 billion in the next three years, India's e-commerce sector, like similar sectors around the world, presents a number of growth opportunities. Big Basket, an online grocery service in India now has operations in 15 major cities and 50 smaller towns. It also has competition from rapidly expanding Grofers and Pepper Tap, which deliver food from local stores rather than from their own inventories. Big Basket maintains its own inventory of fruits, vegetables, and packaged goods and also has added "Blue Apron" pre-packaged ingredients for ready-to-cook meals.

 Job estimates suggest India's e-commerce industry will need 100,000 to 150,000 employees compared to 25,000 today. Along with established logistics companies, such as GATI and DHL, GoJavas, Ecom Express, Delhivery, and other local and foreign start-ups see opportunity for expansion and growth. Instead of today's short term relationships that retailers have with carriers that offer the lowest bids, long term partnerships will enable carriers to stabilize prices at a higher level. Then, there is the opportunity for credit card companies to educate customers about the way they can facilitate merchandise purchases and returns. Judging from recent plans by mega online US retailer, Amazon, the price of e-commerce goods will be going up as costs for picking, packing, and transporting items increases.

(See additional information about careers in logistics at the earlier blog post, "What Do You Want to Be?")