Predicting the Future – A Few Thoughts

I realized a long time ago that I am not very good at predicting the future. Well, at least, not predicting it accurately.

Still, if I look at technology I feel comfortable stating:

• Computers will get faster
• Media files will get bigger
• Storage will hold more and deliver it quicker
• And, as editors, we will never be satisfied with current technology

However, while those are probably accurate, they miss a much more important point:

Audiences will always want engaging stories, told in new ways, featuring characters they can identify with. Our love of good stories is as old as time and not likely to change.

We’ve reached a point where current technology is fast enough for all of us to do our jobs successfully. We will always want more, but we don’t need more.

In the past, our imaginations were constrained by what our gear could do – or the time it would take our gear to do it. Most of those constraints are gone.

The challenge for many of us today is not technology but business. Finding clients. Finding projects. Finding funding. Keeping the lights on and doors open in a very, very challenging business environment.

• Computers and software are cheaper and easier to use; which increases the number of people competing with us for the same jobs using the same tools.
• More competition and cheaper tools makes it harder to obtain the budgets needed to tell stories effectively.
• Between the pandemic, the stock market and inflation, the world seems to be in a race to see which business sector can deliver the most bad news.
• The proliferation of social media sites and mobile phone cameras is creating a tidal wave of visual images that’s overwhelming audiences into becoming numb to media.

It’s enough to cause a severe case of depression.

Until you remember that the reason we got into this business is to tell compelling stories that engage audiences. Not every one can tell a great story. But we can. Our ability to tell stories is what makes us valuable. Not our tools, but our minds.

We are in the business of story-telling. Client service and audience outreach. Enabling communication. Our core skill is magnifying the voice of a talented individual or an organization so that it can be heard.

It is easy to focus on the technology we use. But, in doing so, we open ourselves to competitors who offer the same technology at a lower price.

Rather, we need to focus on what we create. Technology is the tool we use to tell stories to engage the mind of an audiences. We provide information. We provide training. We provide comfort. We provoke thought. We communicate with the world.

In these troubled times, it is easy to get depressed. Let us not forget that our job is to bring great stories to the world. And that transcends technology… or competition.

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