Give a civilization a good 25 years and just see how it transforms the way virtually everything is done. Business has been around for thousands of years. People have been exchanging goods and services all over the planet in different ways ever since Humankind has existed.
But, if you were to go back in time and tell the business people of ancient Egypt or West Africa that some day there would be something called the Cloud that would store data and host the way we communicate and create, they would probably try to find a way to banish you from their sight. Heck, you might not have to go back much farther than the 1970s. Who would believe you even then?
Digital media has become so intertwined in the way we live our daily lives, many of us do not even know how we existed before we had it. Online shopping is something we could never have even thought about being able to do 30 years ago. It has always been the case that one had to go out of the house, to the store, look through what is in stock, and either come home with a product or not.
Ordering by mail via catalog has been a thing, as has been ordering over the phone. But, ordering online has become, in many ways, the only way to shop. Digital media has changed the way we communicate, the way we entertain ourselves, and the way we shop for just about anything that is being made.
Right now, there are almost 4.5 billion web pages on the Internet. We are getting close to having almost as many web pages on the Internet as there are people on the Planet. Almost half of the people who use the Internet to buy things on websites are starting their search for what they want by using a search engine.
Digital media cannot be disregarded any longer. It is the very thing that drives our economy and makes the enormous world we live in so very much smaller. There has never been a time in the history of the planet where you can put something on sale in Tulsa, Oklahoma and have it purchased by someone in Shanghai, China five minutes later. Bought and paid for. All you have to do is ship it.
We are a global community and that would never be able to be the case without the Internet and the digital media that holds up that web. People are learning more every day about how others live. We are seeing in a flash of a moment exactly what people dream of wanting and then are able to show them who has whatever it is they were dreaming about. It is truly a time like no other time in history.
For thousands of years, written communication has been a vital part of human existence. Being able to communicate with someone far off has brought comfort and heartache alike to millions of people throughout the centuries. A blacksmith might be able to advertise his wares and skills to those who might someday make their way through his town, but those advertisements and written correspondence might hit a target or miss widely.
Today, whether it be for correspondence or advertising, email is being used to communicate with people around the world in an instant. Men, women, boys, and girls of all ages are using digital media to get their brand out to the world, to have relationships with customers and friends, and to expand their businesses like never before.
Social media is another way in which the world is coming together. Using different social media platforms, digital media is informing the world of new discoveries, sharing information to every corner of the Earth, and bringing hope and light to billions. We wake up every morning and take digital media for granted.
One doesn’t have to go to deep in the memory to remember what it was like without digital media. It has only been less than 30 years since everything became public. Can we even dare to imagine what it will be like in another 30? Some might not like it, but it is definitely here to stay.