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‘The OrganizedMind: Thinking
Straight in the Age of
Information Overload’,
b Daniel Levitinearphones—and without the conversations at the
checkout or with the ticket seller, we don’t even have to
remove them. If you have increasingly less interaction
with the outside world, you can become imprisoned in
your own world and this can actually pave the way for
psychological problems such as depression.” When
she sees an older person struggling with supermarket
scanners or trying to figure out the train ticket machine,
Van Schuppen thinks we are forgetting a large part of
the population. “The world is changing so fast,” she
says, “and though this has always been the case,
today’s changes assume a digital intuition that not
everyone possesses. These changes have a deep
impact on our daily routines and we forget that the
elderly can’t always keep up with it all.”MORE AND MORE CHOICE
We have to do more and more ourselves. Even though
organizations are making cuts to their services, they are
also starting to realize that they shouldn’t make things
too difficult for customers. “Consumers are saying, ‘It’s
great that I can do everything digitally, but where’s the
advantage for me?’ And companies are taking this
seriously,” Lamb says. “They are releasing apps that
don’t just shift the burden to us, but also make life
easier. This isn’t just happening with technology, but on
a variety of other levels, too. You can choose what you
want to do and what you want to have done for you:scanning your groceries, having them paid for or
delivered. You can prepare your own recipe, buy a
pre-assembled package of ingredients you only have to
chop and toss in the pan, heat up ready-made meals in
the microwave, or order food to be delivered. You can
pick up your furniture and put it together, or have it
delivered with a handyman who can put it together for
you. We have more and more of a choice of the level of
service we want.”
Service is no longer the norm; it has become a
luxury. Take the travel agent you can hire to put
together the perfect vacation, for example. Online
stores have also noticed that their customers need
service. Some companies that used to only have an
online presence are now offering physical stores,
showrooms actually, where you can see and feel what
you’re buying and where real staff are walking around,
answering questions or giving recommendations and
helping you with your order.
Gas station attendants are even starting to make a
comeback in some places: A sign was spotted at a gas
station in the Netherlands that offers full service; they
don’t just fill your tank for you, they also check your tire
pressure and your wiper fluid. Just because—it’s all
part of the service.‘Service is no longer the norm ;
it has become a luxury ’