ISSUE XXVI: Obsolescence

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HUMANITÉ ISSUE 26

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EDITOR’S NOTE “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.” – Karl Marx Obsolescence has quietly dominated much of human history, with the vast majority of innovations having antiquated older, less efficient tools and practices. In a world inextricable from rapid advancement and progression, obsolescence, or the state of being outdated, becomes paramount. Yet what does it mean for something to become obsolete?

What have we gained in processes of change and creation? In our quest toward progression, what have we lost to our insatiable hunger for growth?

In this issue, we explore how obsolescence takes on multiple forms in our current world. Ranging from broader, pressing issues like the rise of artificial intelligence and other technologies to smaller, less explored topics like the disappearance of handwriting, we explore what it means for something to be or become obsolete—and what consequences lie for that which takes its place.

Humanité

The Growing Phenomenon of Cashlessness

By Regina Kim Layout by Regina Kim

Free Trial Ends: Now digital art Haeun (Regina) Kim

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accelerated this change, as many companies began restructuring their money transfers to a digitized system to avoid physical contact. In countries like Sweden, nearly all exchanges of currency are located online, as only 3-4 percent of Particularly in developed transactions are executed in cash. economies, physical currency is seeing its role greatly reduced, with Despite the benefits, however, some some economists predicting the critics point out the instability of a emergence of completely cashless wholly digital system. societies by as early as 2040-2050.

Instead, digital payment systems— Technology comes with its own credit and debit cards, mobile unique set of vulnerabilities; if wallets (Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, technology fails, it may be safer to etc.), and transfer apps (Venmo, have a physical storage of money. In Cash App, etc.)—are taking their addition, such a system would necessarily disadvantage those place. without access to the internet. ash has long been a staple of modern society. Yet, once heralded as a mark of economic advancement and efficiency, cash is slowly growing redundant in an increasingly digital world.

This shift is driven largely by the convenience and efficacy of digital platforms: withdrawals of money can now occur without trips to the ATM machine or physical wallets.

The COVID-19 pandemic only

One must ask themselves: in a world where even physical currency is a social construct, what would a digitized economy look like?

The Losing Battle Between Books and AI

By Olivia Kim Layout by Regina Kim

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dense crowd gathers around a modern screen that remsem resembles AI. The people are completely absorbed in the screen, almost as if there is a gravitational force. As AI/technology advances, the promise of convenience, speed, and knowledge progresses as well.

People want instant answers and the convenience of clicking a single button to access any new knowledge. The sign on the left reads, “Your New Book” and “Buy now.” .

While the crowd is fully focused on the screen, a lonely bin full of books sits on the side. In the bin, there are piles

piles of discarded books and crumpled paper, symbolizing how AI has replaced conventional methods of gaining knowledge. The juxtaposition of the flashy screen and the bin illustrates the obsolescence and outdated nature of books because it was outpaced by the convenience provided by AI. In the digital age, where AI innovation takes place very quickly, books and old media are treated as obsolete clutter that can be replaced by faster technology, not as a valuable source of knowledge.

The New “Book” digital art Olivia Kim

The Obsolescence of Vocational Mastery

By Jiwoo Kim Layout by Regina Kim

A New Era digital art Jiwoo Kim

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he reality of obsolescence in the modern workforce is

even darker than imagined. It is no longer a distant possibility reserved for outdated industries, but an immediate and accelerating force that reshapes the value of skill itself.

Vocational mastery, once seen as a reliable path to stability, is becoming increasingly vulnerable in a world driven by automation, efficiency, and constant technological advancement.

Vocational Mastery requires strong dedication, effort, and time, but all these factors are now so easily achievable for half the efforts,

price, and people needed in doing so.

For generations, stability was tied to specialization. The more precise your creation, the more secure your place in the workforce seemed. But today, precision alone is no longer enough. Machines can replicate repetition. Algorithms can optimize efficiency. Entire systems can now learn, adapt, and outperform in tasks once thought to require years of human refinement.

The Obsolescence of Vocational Mastery

By Jiwoo Kim Layout by Jiwoo Kim

Picture this: you spend years in vocational school, waking before the sun, hands calloused and rough, spending sleepless nights revising your creation. But you're doing all this for one reason: your future. Lying in bed, your back aching, neck sore, you dream of the day you walk across that stage, to finally achieve what you deserve.

Soon, that day comes. You walk into the workforce to now do what you’ve mastered for decades—only to hear 5 words that determine the rest of your life: “Your job has been replaced.” In this single moment, all your effort, dreams, and motivations are extinguished.

This is the reality of obsolescence in the modern workforce. It is no longer a distant possibility reserved for outdated industries, but an immediate and accelerating force that reshapes the value of skill itself.

The value of skill is no longer defined solely by how well you can do something, but by how adaptable you are when that something changes, or disappears entirely.

Vocational mastery, once seen as a reliable path to stability, is becoming increasingly vulnerable in a world driven by automation, efficiency, and constant technological advancement. Vocational Mastery requires strong dedication, effort, and time, but all these factors are now so easily achievable for half the efforts, price, and people needed in doing so.

For generations, stability was tied to specialization. The more precise your creation, the more secure your place in the workforce seemed. But today, precision alone is no longer enough. Machines can replicate repetition. Algorithms can optimize efficiency. Entire systems can now learn, adapt, and outperform in tasks once thought to require years of human refinement.

Then we have to consider those mentioned in the beginning; The people who woke up before the sun did, the people who devoted so much of their life into vocational mastery. What happens to them?

The impact of their displacement extends beyond their hired status or economic stability, these individuals lose their identity. The person they’ve built up for years is now nothing more than an underqualified individual who just “knows how to fix things,” and not “a professional clockmaker.” They lose the title they’ve sacrificed, bled, and worked for; now having nothing more than ‘occasionally useful skills.’

Obsolescence is considered natural, but alongside it comes the hardship, impact, and the human cost we’ve never fully imagined that comes along with it. As industries evolve, so must our understanding of value: not just in skills, but in resilience, adaptability, and human dignity. Because while jobs can be replaced, people should never be.

Psycology and Obsolescence

By Jacob Sung Layout by Jiwoo Kim Psychological analysis on why short attention spans and short-form content make things obsolete faster With the proliferation of short-form content following the rise of social media platforms in the recent decade, there is a growing global perception that everything is becoming obsolete at a faster rate. This phenomenon transforms all ideas, trends, and cultural products alike, but also diminishes human cognitive capability, and only seems to be growing.

A part of this problem stems from how social media is designed and the effects of that design on users’ cognitive well-being. Social media platforms like Instagram are designed to hook users by inducing dopamine with every scroll. People can effortlessly move their fingers to consume vast amounts of information and entertainment, and instant gratification from what they consume. More importantly, as this is habitualized, these platforms structurally lock users in addiction and a cycle of cognitive confinement that they cannot control.

Excessive cognitive overload and decision fatigue can also be attributed as a cause of this problem. Instead of consuming complex and slow content, people increasingly want quick and easily digestible information. Therefore, when they look for trends or concepts, they prefer simple ones and get tired easily of ideas.

Accumulation of these factors accelerate obsolescence in the modern society. For example, food trends like the recent Dubai Chocolate Chewy Cookie trend in South Korea only lasted a few months, and was a mere continuation of even shorter food trends such as Malating. Compared to past food trends that lasted many more months, such as the Castella trend in the 2010s, there is a stark difference in the duration of influence.

While this problem is only growing, there are certain approaches that could be taken to mitigate the effects of obsolescence. First, people can take accountability into their own hands and use screen time apps or self-regulation to prevent overconsumption of shortterm content. Second, politicians must proactively advocate for more regulation of social media that structurally traps people into their features.

A phone decreases the worth of the events and ideas that would otherwise shape people’s experiences with life and culture.

Obsolescence of Movie Theaters in the Streaming Age

By Sean Byun Layout by Jiwoo Kim The streaming industry is putting increased pressure on traditional movie theaters. Platforms like Netflix and Disney+ promote convenience and accessibility to exclusive content. For instance, Netflix releases full seasons of shows at once for binge-watching. At the same time, Disney+ offers exclusive franchises like Marvel, allowing audiences to instantly view online or at home, reshaping how audiences consume film and television.

In recent years, theater attendance has decreased; according to industry data, cinema attendance remains 30%-40% below attendance rates before the pandemic (COVID-19), likely reflecting the shift from movie theaters to watching at home online on streaming platforms. Several major chains like AMC and Cineworld have filed for bankruptcy protection. Regardless, the theaters still endure and do not fail to deliver. The question is no longer about how theaters will survive, but about how they will stay relevant and reinvent themselves in the movie industry.

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Streaming platforms are currently thriving in this industry; Netflix has counted over 300 million subscribers. This was the aftermath of a global andemic, COVID-19, where movie theaters were struggling severely and were forced to experiment with new ways to tackle the issue of competition and lack of customers. When viewers were informed they ould watch major releases at home, many viewers became accustomed to watching major releases at home.

While these large chains are slowly becoming extinct, something unexpected is happening at the margins: the rise of indie and arthouse cinemas, and slowly filling seats. Venues such as the Alamo Drafthouse and other community-run theaters have been built that offer curation, atmosphere, and a reason to care about what is on the screen. For some, he death of the blockbuster temple is quietly making room for something better.

Theaters are currently sharing a similar strategy: they have stopped competing with streaming on its own terms. They have utilized premium seats, Dolby Atmos speakers, and premium large screens to incentivize heir customers. Many cinemas aim to create an experience that streaming platforms with a screen at home fundamentally cannot replicate, building more loyal fans who enjoy the concept of cinema.

Streaming has won the war of convenience, but convenience was just one actor for the customers. With the upcoming technology, which consists of premium seats and speakers that give an immersive experience, people will eventually find their way back to the cinemas; it is only a matter of heaters adapting and competing with this new competitor in the industry.

The decline of delayed gratification in the digital age

by CLAIRE BAEK In today’s demanding digital environment, many are exposed to constant stimuli and immediate rewards.

Social media’s addictive algorithm is gradually shaping attention patterns and weakening people’s impulse control.

Social media’s environment, shaped by immediate notifications and short-form content, fosters a kind of systemic conditioning that drives people to prioritize instant pleasure. Many sense that this is harmful, but few realize the extent to which it affects their capacity to focus on long-term goals. On a broader scale, the harmful aspects of digital culture render delayed gratification obsolete.

Delayed gratification is the ability to resist immediate rewards in favor of a greater return in the future.

It is a crucial ability that enables individuals to develop better self-control and achieve long-term goals—saving money for a dream house, improving personal fitness, or pursuing anything that requires patience, dedication, and self-regulation.

At the opposite end sits instant gratification, which involves prioritizing immediate rewards over long-term goals. In moderation, instant gratification is not harmful.

Small pleasures and entertainment are integral to natural life, and they can provide relief in stressful moments. The problem arises when people start to set instant gratification as the default mindset. When they grow too accustomed to instant stimulation, it becomes harder to tolerate boredom or slow progress.

As a result, tasks that require sustained effort can begin to feel unbearable and unachievable. This is the reason why social media platforms have such a powerful influence.

Designed to maximize user engagement, the endless scrolling feature of short-form content and instant notifications can deliver bursts of satisfaction to users with almost no effort.

Over time, this can reshape habits and expectations. People expect immediate payoffs, entertainment, and results instead of learning to wait. In such environments, delayed gratification begins to feel unnatural, even though it is essential for achievement and resilience.

Still, neither extreme is absolutely beneficial.

While generally considered a valuable skill, it can be harmful if taken to an extreme, such as causing burnout and a lack of joy.

Especially in a digital environment that prioritizes immediacy, it is important to balance pursuing delayed gratification without missing out on some joy.

What matters, in the end, is balance. In a digital world that constantly pushes people toward instant gratification, people must consciously practice self-restraint and patience. Though the world may be filling up with immediacy, people still need the ability to wait, persist, and work towards set goals. At the same time, people should make room for moments of rest, enjoyment, and happiness.

In that sense, delayed gratification will not become obsolete.

Essentially, what is becoming obsolete is the analog environment that made it easier to develop and practice delayed gratification. If people make conscious efforts to preserve it, this essential skill will never become obsolete.

The slow disappearance of

Handwriting by JESSICA KIM

IN A TYPICAL CLASSROOM, STUDENTS SIT IN ROWS TYPING ON IDENTICAL KEYBOARDS, THEIR SCREENS FILLED WITH THE SAME FONT, SIZE, AND NEATLY ALIGNED LINES OF TEXT. MANY EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY DIGITAL, MAKING WRITING APPEAR MORE UNIFORM, WHILE THE OLDER HANDWRITTEN METHOD INCORPORATES MORE TACTILE AND PERSONAL ELEMENTS. ADDITIONALLY, DIGITAL WRITING OFTEN APPEARS ON ANGLED SCREENS, CREATING A SENSE OF DEPTH AND DISTANCE THAT CONTRASTS WITH THE DIRECT, GROUNDED EXPERIENCE OF WRITING ON PAPER. THE SCALE AND PROPORTION OF MODERN SOCIETY RELIES HEAVILY HANDWRITING CAN BE EXPLAINED ON DIGITAL TOOLS, USING DIGITAL BY THE SHIFT TOWARD DIGITAL INTERFACES FOR THEIR SPEED, COMMUNICATION, CONVENIENCE, AND EFFICIENCY. A DEFINING FEATURE OF MODERN LIFE IS HOW DIGITAL SYSTEMS CONNECT WITH ONE ANOTHER. HANDWRITING, PRACTICED FOR CENTURIES, IS ONE OF THE OLDEST AND MOST TRADITIONAL METHODS OF HUMAN EXPRESSION–AND ONE OF THE FASTEST DISAPPEARING. MANY PEOPLE NOW WRITE BY HAND LESS FREQUENTLY AS DIGITAL TOOLS OFFER GREATER SPEED AND EFFICIENCY. HANDWRITING INVOLVES THE PHYSICAL FORMATION OF LETTERS, REFLECTING QUALITIES SUCH AS STROKE, FLOW, AND RHYTHM— ELEMENTS THAT TYPING CANNOT FULLY REPRODUCE. YET CONVENIENCE KEEPS WINNING.

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WHICH HAS RESHAPED EVERYDAY THE SCALE AND PROPORTION OF WRITING HABITS. AS DIGITAL TOOLS HANDWRITING CAN BE EXPLAINED DOMINATE, HANDWRITING IS USED BY THE SHIFT TOWARD DIGITAL LESS FREQUENTLY, BECOMING COMMUNICATION, WHICH HAS SMALLER IN PRESENCE AND RESHAPED EVERYDAY WRITING AS DIGITAL TOOLS SIGNIFICANCE AS IT RELIES HABITS. INCREASINGLY ON DEVICES. AS A DOMINATE, HANDWRITING IS USED RESULT, IT BEGINS TO APPEAR AS AN LESS FREQUENTLY, BECOMING OLD FASHIONED SKILL RATHER THAN SMALLER IN PRESENCE AND AS IT RELIES A DAILY PRACTICE. ONCE USED FOR SIGNIFICANCE EXTENDED PERSONAL EXPRESSION, INCREASINGLY ON DEVICES. AS A HANDWRITING HAS GRADUALLY RESULT, IT BEGINS TO APPEAR AS AN DIMINISHED FROM LONG PERSONAL OLD FASHIONED SKILL RATHER LETTERS TO BRIEF NOTES, MARKING THAN A DAILY PRACTICE. ONCE THE GRADUAL DECLINE OF A ONCE USED FOR EXTENDED PERSONAL EXPRESSION, HANDWRITING HAS ESSENTIAL TRADITION. HANDWRITING REFLECTS ELEMENTS GRADUALLY DIMINISHED FROM AND PRINCIPLES OF ART, SUCH AS LONG PERSONAL LETTERS TO BRIEF EFFORT AND COORDINATION. NOTES, MARKING THE GRADUAL HOWEVER, IN THIS COMPOSITION, DECLINE OF A ONCE ESSENTIAL TYPING CLEARLY DOMINATES, TRADITION. OCCUPYING THE MOST PROMINENT HANDWRITING REFLECTS ELEMENTS SPACE, WHILE HANDWRITTEN LISTS AND PRINCIPLES OF ART, SUCH AS AND COORDINATION. ARE PUSHED TO THE EDGES. THIS EFFORT PLACEMENT MARGINALIZES HOWEVER, IN THIS COMPOSITION, CLEARLY DOMINATES, HANDWRITING, MAKING IT TYPING SECONDARY AND LESS SIGNIFICANT. OCCUPYING THE MOST PROMINENT SPACE, WHILE HANDWRITTEN LISTS THE OFF CENTER ARRANGEMENT ARE PUSHED TO THE EDGES. THIS MARGINALIZES CREATES ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE PLACEMENT MAKING IT THAT VISUALLY EMPHASIZES DIGITAL HANDWRITING, CONVENIENCE OVER MANUAL SKILL. SECONDARY AND LESS SIGNIFICANT.

Dead Things Don't Stay Buried: Why We Keep Resurrecting Things We Killed

By Aiden Woojin Cho Layout by Aiden Woojin Cho

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inyl sales have transcended CD sales for the past three years. After filing for bankruptcy in 2012, Kodak has relaunched multiple film stocks due to staggering consumer demand.

Though independent bookshops were considered extinct due to the rise of Amazon and e-book readers, physical books continue to outsell ebooks by a significant margin. The things we considered obsolete are refusing to go away.

This trend of revival is not a niche or arbitrary phenomenon. In 2023, over 43 million vinyl records were sold in the United States alone, with a significant portion of the buyers being under 25, a demographic that grew up in the digital era. The sale of disposable and film cameras has also been rapidly growing online. Record Store Day, an annual event celebrating independent music retail, now has global participation.

Why are formats that were decisively replaced by new technology finding demand a decade later?

Although the most direct explanation is nostalgia, data obscure that conclusion: a large share of vinyl buyers today have never lived through an era with records as the dominant format of listening to music. Many film photographers were born after digital cameras became standardized.

Hence, this phenomenon can be better explained as anemoia–a longing for a time one has never lived through. In an era of endless archival content, where old-school music resurfaces overnight, and vintage aesthetics circulate constantly, recent generations have grown up absorbing the emotional and social textures of eras they have never lived in. Though it is not a memory and the nostalgia is borrowed, the feeling doesn’t feel any less present.

To understand what they are actually retreating from, it helps to look at what digital life demands of people. On average, a person unlocks their phone 96 times a day.

Social media platforms are

engineered by behavioral psychologists to maximize user time and minimize user disengagement.

Attention has quickly become the primary commodity in the modern economy as every virtual product aggressively competes for it. With that in mind, choosing a format that cannot send notifications, cannot be optimized through an algorithm, and cannot track the user’s behavior is not simply a personal or aesthetic preference: it is a form of escape and exit from the current world.

Crucially, this phenomenon is especially visible in the current generation who have grown up entirely in digitalized systems and societies. Older generations can remember life before the internet as a reality. But for younger people, digital saturation is simply the water they have always swum in, which may explain the pull toward analog devices and systems stronger, not weaker. When digital systems are all one has ever known, the inconveniences of analog systems, such as flipping a record or finishing a roll of film with no way to delete a bad shot, don’t feel like drawbacks. The phenomenon is proof that an experience has boundaries that it cannot be endlessly optimized.

In a digital social media landscape engineered to feel infinite, limitations have started to feel like a luxury.

Ultimately, what is being revived is not really the technology. What people are buying when they buy a record, a disposable camera, or a paperback is essentially a different experience that can’t be optimized or algorithmized into a system.

These dead things keep coming back because they offer something the living don’t.

The Obsolescence of Ownership: From Owning Copies to Renting Access Through Subscriptions and Streaming

By Evan Han Layout by Aiden Woojin Cho

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e rarely own the music, movies, or software we use.

Yet, we have access to more of it than ever before. Instead of collecting CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays, we subscribe to services like Spotify and Netflix to temporarily access the content. This shift from ownership to rental access is redefining what it means to have something.

While subscriptions make content more accessible, they also weaken personal ownership and shift control from consumers to corporations.

Subscription-based business models date back to milkmen in the 1850s, who charged customers a recurring fee for milk deliveries. In the 20th century, this model was adopted by newspaper companies and later spread to a wide range of industries.

However, collecting payments manually made subscriptions hard to scale, leaving one-time purchases and permanent ownership as the dominant model.

This changed with the rise of the internet, which allowed businesses to communicate directly

with customers and process payments digitally.

Online transactions removed previous limitations, paving the way for corporations to integrate periodical subscriptions into their services.

Today, nearly 70% of all companies that sell directly to customers offer some form of subscription, accelerating the shift away from ownership to temporary access.

Adobe, a company that provides software for content creation and digital experiences, highlights the decline of ownership in the digital age. In 2012, consumers could own the Adobe Suite as a one-time purchase, giving them full control over the software.

Today, consumers have to subscribe to Adobe and pay monthly to use software like Photoshop, meaning access is lost as soon as payments stop. This also gave Adobe full control over its software, enabling the company to change features and require all users to adopt them.

Even cars, which have been a symbol of personal ownership, are increasingly offered

through subscriptions and rentals.

Auto Vivendi, a company that gives members access to luxury cars through annual payments, is a notable example. Across industries, companies are replacing ownership with subscription-based business models, allowing them to maintain continuous control over how their customers use their products.

The shift from ownership to subscription-based access has significant consequences, limiting consumer control, increasing longterm costs, and reshaping the relationship we have with the products we use. Unlike one-time purchases, which grant users permanent control after payment, subscriptions require consumers to accept ongoing changes imposed by companies, whether through price increases or unwanted features. At the same time, subscriptions can impose subtle financial burdens on consumers that can accumulate over time.

Many people maintain multiple subscriptions simultaneously, turning minor expenses into significant recurring costs. Because the payments are divided into small amounts, they encourage impulsive spending, making consumers less intentional with their purchases.

As a result, subscription-based systems are changing how we pay and how we define ownership itself.

The obsolescence of ownership and the rise of subscription-based access have changed not only how we consume but also what it means to own something. As more aspects of our daily lives move toward rental access, we lose autonomy and permanence. We now have more available to us than ever before, yet we truly own less. In a world where access can be revoked at any given time, the line between owning and merely borrowing begins to fade.

The Rise of All-in-One Phones

By Ethon Kim Layout by Aiden Woojin Cho

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ot long ago, a normal high school would be filled with MP3 players in their pockets, lockers filled with iconic DVDs and CDs, and Game Boys in their hands all day.

However, over the course of a decade, all of the fuss and hustle of carrying these thick devices was replaced with a slim rectangular device that fits all of the ordinary devices into one. A Smartphone. Since the release of the first phone, the DVD, CD, and Gameboy industries started to slowly but surely die out as a byproduct of the rise of the smartphone.

The smartphone allowed students to perform fundamental tasks such as calling and messaging without needing a big dial phone and a tiny pager. On top of this, it included all of the forms of entertainment and even more.

Smartphones combined communication, entertainment, and media into a single device, leading to the extinction of single-use devices in the current status quo.

Before smartphones innovated society, single-use devices had to be used to perform each and every task, which we would now consider easy tasks, such as playing games, watching a sports game, listening to music, calling someone, or messaging a friend.

DVD players were needed to play movies at home. Gaming consoles, such as a Game Boy, allow teens and children to play any type of video game without needing to go to the

arcade. MP3 players such as the iPod let people listen to all different types of music. CDs contained the actual movies and songs that were to be put into a DVD player to watch and listen to. The radio united neighbors to listen to the news with a broadcast. Every device serves exactly one function.

None of these had multiple purposes, which meant that people needed all of these in their houses if they wanted to be able to complete such tasks.

However, in the early 2000s, the rise of innovative technology led to allin-one phones, meaning many of the separate technology devices above fit into one small, compact handheld device. This small invention changed the world and transformed how people are able to complete these everyday tasks. For example, the BlackBerry first introduced technology, such as messaging, quick access to the Internet, and sending emails. This all-in-one device called a phone took the world by storm because of the quick and efficient way of performing everyday tasks. As technology evolved, features that were specialized into separate devices started to appear on phones, such as music players, cameras, games, videos, calling, and streaming. Due to the increasing number of phones, the old single-purpose technological devices started to fade away in the quickly changing world. MP3 players, Game Boys, and DVD players began their decline. It's decline out of the

modern world. Over a short period of time, the spread of phones that have all the functions of daily tasks has changed society as a whole.

Phones with all of the purposes in one have brought major changes and convenience for the world; however, they also introduced new conflicts, such as costs and accessibility. In the early 2000s, rather than buying phones, buying multiple single-use single-purpose devices was cheaper individually, unlike smartphones and iPhones, which were expensive and not really accessible to most normal people. These phones, when they first came out, would usually cost around $4,000 to $7,000, adjusted for inflation in 2026. This price was exponentially higher than what it would cost to actually purchase all of the needed devices, which would cost around $500 to $800 at the most. This effectively created a division between people who are able to afford and actually purchase the latest modern technology, versus people who are not able to buy it.

However, luckily, as production of phones began to rise, more and more companies got into the phone business.

The prices of iPhones and smartphones in general started to slowly, but surely, decrease over time.

When comparing the two different time periods, single-purpose devices were simpler and more effective, whereas modern phones had a steep learning curve.

In conclusion, the world's shift from

these single-purpose technologies into the new multipurpose all-in-one phones has completely changed and transformed society and the world in which people live, communicate, and access different forms of entertainment. The rise of phones helped boost technology in modern society and made completing daily tasks much more efficient. In the near future, phones will begin to evolve even more than what we know as of today, ay meaning new breakthrough technologies and advancements.

Phones will always be able to divert the world with new, groundbreaking ideas.

MASTHEAD President: Charlotte Kim Vice President: Zoe Chang Copy Editors: Claire Baek, Woojin Cho Art Editor: Regina Kim Public Relations Managers: Jacob Sung