Last Sunday, my neighbour brought an old model railway back on track—the engines and carriages were well stored in a box and wrapped with a newspaper from 1992. Even though I was pretty fascinated by the old models, the paper took my attention even more.
Bill Gates once said, „We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.“
Looking at this 31-year-old paper proves this quote 100%.
Most job ads have a particular gender focus; the ads are very stereotyped, and even though we still have printed newspapers today, the content is very different, and many things feel strange – and somehow wrong.
It will probably be the same if my kids look back to 2023 in 2054, and they will ask us, „How was this even possible?“.
Another fascinating thing is the amount of (printed) scam ads on some pages. These little ads promote „services“ like divorce support, credit help, and of course, massages. The way to contact those shadow companies is to use a chiffre number – the perfect system to stay anonymous – provided by the media company. The scam was probably part of the revenue model.
It was a pleasant experience on that Sunday afternoon, and even though I prefer to look forward, it can be fascinating to quickly look back and see what was „the normal“ just a few years back – and to reflect on how today’s normal will be in 30 years.
Merry Christmas!