Gas prices and fluctuating unemployment rates are sheer reminders that though we are not in a better economy, we are facing a new one.

Since the beginning of the recession in 2007, statistics show that as much as 20 percent of Americans are considered underemployed or balancing multiple jobs to make ends meet.

While the number of jobs seems to be increasing as we enter a new economy, many jobs are becoming obsolete and are deemed unnecessary through the continuation of technology’s advancement.

EZ-pass will eventually rid off turnpikes of toll booth workers, Netflix and online downloads will replace video-store clerks and video stores in general, ordering fast food online will give way to delivery people, (comma needed here for clarity) and self-checkout lanes at convenience stores will replace cashiers. Though technology has always assumed the role of the bigger, better and faster, it is now replacing the role humans once played in jobs and public places. What once seemed as an act of convenience may eventually appear as a second wave to The Industrial Revolution.

The Internet also falls into this category of catastrophic convenience as it disposes an unimaginable amount of information through a simple few clicks of a mouse. It is a bittersweet tool that exposes the good, the bad and the ugliest. It has introduced various networks and social media sites that allow people to keep in touch, while simultaneously desensitizing the notion of personal relationships.

As the World Wide Web becomes more and more powerful, we are constantly up against the very enemy that we, as a world, have created.

A Council of Economic Advisers study recently reported that among any other industry in the country, it is newspaper production that is shrinking the fastest. Whether that claim is a result of newspapers and print being a tradition of the past, or we simply do not read as much as we used to, it is a fact that cannot be prevented quicker than it is happening.

The dwindling production and business the print industry is facing proposes an obvious sign that the other industries may too, soon be facing an unfortunate downfall. The one industry, however, that will continue to rise above the flawed and faulty is the technology industry.

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