Remembrance of things past: In search of lost time

Life expectancy has changed; so has print expectancy.
Less ink on paper, and more reels.
More Facebook than book.
More fake-news than newspapers.
More AI than common sense.
More stand-ups than a sense of humour.
It’s urgent, and I want the job yesterday, remains the same. No change there.
Phone chargers, pens and Pantone shade-card. They still go missing. No change there.
Print CEOs who are making serious money are still seriously busy. No change there.
More gyms and nutritious food, also many-more hospitals and health clinics.
Cellphones, laptops and apps with weekly upgrades. Which reminds me, time seems to be moving faster than before.
Everyone says customer service. But customer service has diminished.
Everyone says tech-support. But tech-support has diminished. Case in point, when I asked if we could print CMYK on Mars, I got no reply.
Footprints are important. Carbon footprints are much more important.
Everyone says climate change. But the climate is mutating.
Everyone talks about machine learning and Industry 4.0, but the starting point to build a factory is a baba who has never built a hut in his life. Not even Lego.
Google algorithms that know more about you than anyone else (including your wife, your CA, your business partner).
Postcards and cursive writing, instead of cut-and-paste.
Printmakers and typographers and master compositors are missing. So are sparrows, floppy disks and people who greet you with a beautiful smile for no rhyme or reason.
No one is waiting for Godot no more. Now if the PrintWeek website takes 3.3 microseconds to load then I receive a WhatsApp message within 2.2 microseconds. Likewise if your package takes more than two hours then human beings are irked. Instant gratification is our default mode. Rumours are swirling around that one 17-acre packaging factory is planning to outsource its die-making or CTP platemaking to Zomato and Swiggy. To speeden up the supply chain.
All the years have a two in them.
Everyone wants to download an app called profits.
Here I would like to include a GST joke but I am informed I will have to pay 28% for it.
More installations, less operators.
More softwares, more bugs.
More product lines. Approx 32,000 for a mid-sized FMCG. And as always, everything is required yesterday because we are rapidly running out of time.
Business idea for commercial printers: Start producing instruction leaflets for 8.14-billion human beings on this planet about how to live life sans strife.
And finally, attention span is vanishing. Therefore, thank you for reading this.
PS: Which reminds me, basic courtesy and good manners are also vanishing.