Should We Be Worried About a Technological Apocalypse?
It’s no secret that, as a society, technology dominates our lives. We seem to be attached, emotionally as well as physically, to our smartphones. Trust me, as an American 11th grader, I would know. Instagram going down for an hour or two is hailed by me, my friends, and other teenagers across the country as a near-catastrophic event. It’s crazy to think that just ten years ago, Instagram didn’t even exist. Technology, and the role it plays in our lives, seems to be developing each day. New innovations are appearing left and right — since I’ve begun the process of drafting this very essay, Apple has announced they are creating a credit card.
One of the areas that has seen much of this technological innovation is the service industry. More and more chain restaurants that I frequent are putting up shelves to house their mobile orders, allowing the customer to bypass any interaction with a cashier for the sake of convenience. My phone is now home to a folder of apps for places like Starbucks, Dunkin’, and Panera Bread, enabling me to make an order in the comfort of my own home, drive to the nearest restaurant, grab my bag of grub, and go home, all without ever having to speak to another living being. Even the local grocery store has an entire section dedicated to self-checkout machines. From a manager’s perspective, it makes sense to favor automation and mobile ordering; the largest proportion of a retailer’s costs is typically the payroll. It would seem that cashier jobs are on the way out. Considering the fact that as of 2016 more than 3.5 million Americans were employed as cashiers (Tiffany), it’s easy to view the rise of automation as a risk. Are these hard-working Americans going to be replaced by apps and user interfaces?
The short answer is no. As anyone who has used it may know, self-checkout technology can be the most frustrating part of the shopping experience, despite it having been around since the 80s (Tiffany). It seemingly never works the way it is supposed to; the scanners will scan too many times, the machine will beep at you, and there always seems to be an unexpected item in the bagging area. For this reason, many customers decide to skip the hassle and get their items rung up by a human being instead. There are other issues with these machines, too. A study showed that almost 4% of would-be sales from self-checkouts are never paid for (Tiffany). While some of this statistic is explained by typical dishonest shoppers, some of it can also be attributed to people simply getting frustrated with the machine. Experts who have tried to predict the rate of growth of the self-checkout industry have almost always been wrong, overshooting the number of systems expected to be put in place over the years by thousands. This form of automation simply isn’t a threat, and the fact that the number of cashier jobs in the U.S. is only expected to decrease by 1% over the next ten years makes that clear (Tiffany).
But perhaps self-checkout machines aren’t exactly the issue; they are a gateway to greater advancements in the field of automation, ones with a greater potential of jeopardizing the service industry. Tech giant Amazon recently created the first cashierless store in Seattle, Washington (Tiffany). The store employs cameras, machine learning, and elaborate sensors to allow customers to simply pick up what they want and walk out; a clear advantage over the rage-inducing self-checkout machines today, as the customer is not required to do any work. This concept sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but it really exists, and could easily be the future of retail stores.
Is “Amazon Go” a death sentence to the cashier career? If the technology to make them continues to develop to the point that it is readily available, then yes, it could very well be. But even if that is the case, it would not necessarily be a problem. As old careers die out, new careers are created in their places. In 1908, when Ford’s Model T car was released to the public, the need for horses in transportation ceased to exist. The jobs displaced by the end of the horse industry were quickly replaced by the demand for producing and selling cars. When old ways of life are considered obsolete, it is because there are new ways of life to replace them. Cashiers may eventually be dismissed in droves, but there will likely be bountiful new career opportunities waiting for them with open arms — careers we presently can’t begin to imagine.
If technology will better our lives, why are people so wary about its development? The answer is likely the fear of change. Older generations, as they always have, criticize the invasion of “newfangled” technology into their lives and the lives of society’s youth. Parents and experts alike claim that children’s obsession and dependence on technology is damaging to their social lives, and reasonably so. It may cause some issues, but technology isn’t the root of all evil — not by a long shot. Being able to quickly run errands such as grocery shopping and picking up food saves people valuable time, which they can then spend doing things they would much rather do. Mother of three Shauna Hart of Little Rock, Arkansas was even able to complete her degree online, which allowed her to devote her time to raising her children (Rearden). Technology is often reviled for depriving its frequent users of social interaction. People do not realize that eliminating some of these trivial social interactions can make room for far more meaningful interactions with family. (Of course, this is no perfect world; for many people, getting errands completed faster means they have more time to spend scrolling through social media or binge-watching Netflix shows. The fact remains that the efficiency of these services allows people to have more time doing what they please, whatever that may be). It is simply human nature to fear change. The reality is that the development of technology is simply nothing to be afraid of.
It is clear that there is no cause for immediate panic. Still, the role that technology will play in our lives in the future remains uncertain. Perhaps it’s not a risk at the moment, but what about 20 years from now? 100? “What if?” questions like this can easily get your head spinning. It’s best not to dwell on predictions for the future, as they’re often wrong. Remember, 1989’s Back to the Future II predicted that in 2015, we would have flying cars. Now it’s 2019, and we’re still stuck with the same annoying self-checkout machines from back when that movie was made. There’s no way to accurately predict what issues societies of the future will face, or what the future of technology will hold. All we can do now is order some McDonald’s from Uber Eats and call it a day.
Works Cited
Tiffany, Kaitlyn. “Wouldn’t it be Better if Self-Checkout Just Died?”. Vox, 2018, https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/2/17923050/self-checkout-amazon-walmart-automation-jobs-surveillance.
Rearden, Caitlin. “A Life of Convenience: How Technology is Changing Humanity”. KARK, 2017, https://www.kark.com/news/local-news/a-life-of-convenience-how-technology-is-changing-humanity/861241229
