dispatches from the new world of work

Another One Bites the Dust

The technology tsunami is still in full force. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports in an article on July 31st that radio transmitters are revolutionizing how the water company reads your meter.

I can still recall when the meter man (yes, at the time there were only men) would knock on the door shouting, "Meter Man!" before using a key to let himself in. Later, the water companies positioned the meters outside your house, so then all they had to do was tramp across your lawn!

As one meter man put it in the article, he has worked for the water company for 16 years reading meters, but now he drives a van as a "field service representative." (Side Note: What he misses most is the exercise—I guess the job was pretty routine.) What he used to do is now done by low-frequency radio transmitters that can read in one hour what it used to take 20 people a day to do!

What the Greater Cincinnati Water Works did, and I applaud them, is to migrate people into new skills long before the conversion to the new technology was complete.

The other big thing that this meter man misses is the contact with people (especially the senior citizens), which raises the question, how do we stay socially connected in this highly technical era?

Val Willis posted this on 08/01/06.

Comments

Thanks Val - "stay socially connected" - conversely though the 21st century reality seems to be "how to find solitude that we crave?" ... in a consumer-world gone MAD / BAD / RAD.

Hopefully USA car culture transitions so OIL [& Arab "royalty" / fascism] is laid to rest [and social isolation in car] AND career-at-home/3rd Places [like Starbucks] enhance social connection/solitude needed. SOLITUDE to me more precious than "connection".

Posted by sean at August 1, 2006 10:39 AM

"... The other big thing that this meter man misses is the contact with people ..." PLUS now we must "feel" for meter-worldboys-girls AND PAY for their social time? Outrageous I say! :>}

Posted by sean at August 1, 2006 12:51 PM

And given today's heat wave, staying in touch with people can be critical. Meter "men", letter carriers, etc., all know their customers and can spot when something is wrong. They are safety nets that are quickly going away.

A short story...long, long ago the mail carrier I had worked the route most days. (We dreaded when he took a day off.) He knew everyone. He knew who got what and what people were expecting. He made an effort to know those on his route, without being nosey. He cared about us and we cared about him. He was the extra set of eyes that the neighborhood needed to help keep us safe and connected.

What networks will emerge to take the place of these people?

Posted by Jill Hurst-Wahl at August 1, 2006 1:02 PM

This highly technical era should help us to have more time to ourselves. And we should try to use this extra time to keep those social connections alive.

Posted by Franc at August 1, 2006 1:19 PM

New technology does not mean isolation. In fact I think if used effectively, technology actually increases social interaction and widens one's perspective and education. Insularity is not a consequence of technology it is a consequence of our mindset. The world has become a small place thanks to technology - bring on more of it I say. And building on Francâ€™s excellent comment I think we all have a responsibility to use our extra time of â€˜solitudeâ€™ to do good things for our fellow citizens.

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 1, 2006 1:32 PM

Trevor - totally agree. IT world for [you] me - 21 years - has been vastly-richly-wonderfully rewarding especially with new social connections - and as the world grows ever smaller more and more new FUN opportunity abounds. :>}

Posted by sean at August 1, 2006 3:21 PM

The point you make about senior citizens is a good one. In smaller towns that still have door to door mail delivery (as opposed to the cluster of mailboxes down the road), the mail delivery person and the meter readers can be the first people to realize something is wrong. They can see that mail or papers haven't been picked up.

As we saw during last year's hurricanes, the mail delivery people were often the ones to check on residents.

Posted by Diane Ensey at August 1, 2006 4:21 PM

A few years ago I heard about a couple of mail delivery people in my greater Boston neigborhood who often delivered milk and other items to senior citizens who couldn't get to the store often. And my mail carrier at the time would often take my outgoing packages with or without sufficient postage and tell me later if he needed to add extra stamps! (Hmmm, I wonder if he thought I was a senior citizen.) But it's uplifting to hear stories like this.

Posted by John OLeary at August 1, 2006 11:06 PM

As Trevor says technology can be a great enabler. I think the issue with more senior members of society is how you can get them om board with the new technology.

This often goes back to design - how do you make this stuff so easy to setup and use that there is no barrier. I have worked with and in IT since my teens and I still have trouble sometimes getting stuff to work on a PC (I can feel another APPLE debate coming on here!).

Posted by PaulH at August 2, 2006 2:24 AM

I heard a wonderful story about old local/new local on the news a couple of weeks ago. A full time Mum was feeling very isolated (everyone in the area worked full time etc) and so set up a support website for others who felt the same. In no time she had an internet hit on her hands (in usage terms not commercially). The wierd part was that the most dramatic change was she made contact with loads of Mums in her area who now physically meet up to help each other out.

I think this is a great example of old and new locals coming together and complimenting each other

Posted by PaulH at August 2, 2006 2:28 AM

Hi Paul

Interesting comment about older people. When I worked in the NHS all those centuries ago ... some research was done about uptake of the then â€˜newâ€™ online repeat prescriptions for medication. After being adjusted to take account of the fact that more medication is requested by older people - it was concluded by the statisticians that the greatest uptake of the online service was by people over 65. It reminded me once more we should never under-estimate the energy, passion, adaptability, acceptance of change and innovation among the older generation - age is no limit to creativity.

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 2, 2006 6:54 AM

We stay connected electronically as well - through the Internet, etc. This and telephones and all the other communication means we have (along with families and personal networks) are the real "safety nets".

Electronic meter reading a) saves money b) saves time c) is safer (dog bites/robbery?) d) is logistic in today's spread out suburbs e) labor efficient (not many people line up for this job).

Its the 21st century - can the U.S. please get back to be being a technological leader and repress these Luddite tendencies?

Posted by Jack at August 2, 2006 10:31 AM

Yes new technology ought to be used in a wiseful manner. Of course Internet has made lots of things easier for common people. You don't need to walk down to the postoffice to pay your bills anylonger for example. But at the same time people spend less and less time together in public places. And nowadays lots of people sit by themselves in apartment blocks sending email to other people instead of paying them a visit. Is this a giant step forward for mankind? For some people maybe it is. Sometimes I am not so sure..

Posted by Marcus Andersson at August 2, 2006 4:51 PM