March 2013, Market Analysis, Salt Spring

In like a lamb, out like a lion…

love those weather lore quotes. Always said with firmness, as if weather is a known quantity, unchanging, to be counted on.

March hovers between winter’s grey and Spring’s allure. This might be the year where we are gifted with one of those delectable Pacific Northwest Coast early Spring moments…fingers crossed.

A change of seasons is always welcome. Other changes may not be so pleasing. Attitude decides, perhaps?

Our moment in time seems to be about nothing but change, where suddenly what used to work no longer does.

The eraser of the Internet just keeps brushing through all of society, wiping clean earlier solidities.

That search engine eye never sleeps. Anyone anywhere (if governments allow it) can seek and find. Suddenly the seeker of information is in control of the process.

We can buy cars via an Internet search. We can buy stocks through Internet trades, do our banking online, purchase gifts and groceries and household items online, discover real estate choices via Internet marketing, make travel arrangements and accommodation bookings online, pay bills, meet significant others, and take part in online delivered education choices. Medical appointments dealt with virtually, books and music purchased and enjoyed online, business webinars held in lieu of flights to meetings in central locations…there is no aspect of our business and personal lives untouched by the impact of the Internet. Retail storefronts are abandoning their fixed locations and easing into online versions. What does this mean for commercial malls? What about the disguises offered by virtual worlds?

Two realities are meshing…face to face and virtual meet-ups. Isn’t that what social media is all about? Is one encounter better than the other?

Hybrid pre-Internet beings are betwixt and between, able to speak both Twentieth Century dialect and Twenty-First lingo. Post-Internet inhabitants don’t understand what all the fuss is about…it’s all just the surround sound of our time…the wallpaper, if you will, and not to be paid attention to.

So, a table of diners in a restaurant are observed flowing between texting those not present on that ubiquitous smart phone and chatting to each other…often at the same time. People walk along texting or checking emails or making calls. Laws are passed to prohibit driving and texting or using a cell phone, at the same time.

That smart phone blurs the physical and the mind’s eye, floating us between here and there, and effortlessly so.

Neither good nor bad…just what is.

Language is an elastic communication device, and as Marshall McLuhan reminded us: “the medium is the message”. So what if twitter and texting prescribe short-hand symbols? As long as the messaging is understood by the recipient, does it matter?

We live in a time when everything is still available to us, pre and post Internet styles seemingly evenly weighted. The terrain continues to quickly evolve. Still a brief time left to enjoy this moment of shift, between two world views.

Oh, yes…all you hybrid beings out there: how long did it take you to figure out LOL?

Laughter, remember, is essential at the cellular level. Out loud is just fine with me.