Saturday, March 30, 2024

The analog information age ends

Boxed up
London, ON
August 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Not so long ago, these were everywhere, rainbow-coloured anchors of the information economy.

But like pay phones and parking, they’ve slowly disappeared from the streets, victims of the Information Age and the do-it-all smartphones that now consume our every moment. It’s an especially silent transition, one most of us don’t realize is even happening until it’s all over.

We had these in college and university, and I remember the giddy sense of accomplishment when my byline was visible through the dirty glass. The fresh newsprint smelled particularly welcoming, even if I was the only one who noticed.

We live in an ephemeral age now, where technology has replaced the tactile with fleeting images on screens, gone with the swipe of a thumb. Printing news on paper and fetching it from a metal and glass box seems so quaint in retrospect.

Back then, we lingered around boxes and papers and newsstands. Nobody lingers anymore. As efficient as we’ve become, I can’t stop thinking about what it felt like to have so much physicality around us.

And what we’ve lost now that it’s just about gone from our midst.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #wonderland #southdale #walkabout #newspapers #journalism #streetphotography #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:
Broken media, February 2009

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