How UPCs Helped Create Facebook

Understand that this is just a theory of mine, but I think the ubiquitous UPC created a society in which the  phenomenal popularity of Facebook became possible.  Before the mid 1970's when bar code scanners came into use it was a much different world from what we live in now.  Stay with me for a little while and I think I can draw a line from then to now for you. 

Growing up, I have many memories of going to a gas station in the next town to the south of us with our Dad.  Dad would buy us a bottle of pop out one of the old machines that had the tall narrow glass door.  You would put your nickel in the slot, open the door and pull out a bottle of Mountain Dew or Choc-ola.  Both were impossibly sweet, but were only 9 ounces.  Just the perfect size for grade school boys.  While there Dad would catch up with his buddies, talking about ways to fix cars, where the fish were biting and I'm sure there were plenty of "blue" jokes that went right over my six year old head.  One of the other places in the men's world was the barber shop.  There weren't any appointments to be made when you needed a haircut.  You arrived on a Saturday morning and waited your turn.  I remember always being bored with the wait because the only comic books they had seemed to be the same ones I had been looking at for years. And I was only six!

The first UPC scanner was installed in 1974 at a supermarket in Ohio.  From there it's not too difficult to draw a line to the popularity of online social forums.  For some of you, you've always lived with bar codes and scanners.  The rest of you might remember what it was like before when going to the grocery store meant that the cashier had to look for a price label and punch in the price of each item on the cash register.  The cashier also had to be knowledgeable as to which products were taxed and in some case at what rate.  All this was done while making conversation with the customer.

I remember going to the grocery with my mother, waiting an agonizing long time in line, as the lone cashier rang up the woman in front of us.  The nice thing was there was no choice of paper or plastic.  It was only paper bags.  (But that's a topic for a different time.)  While in line, people would chat with each other and catch up on each others families, how Aunt Betty's gout was doing, Little Billy's recent spelling bee victory, and the next door neighbor's drunken yelling match with his wife.   I just wanted gum.

Now when you go to a store the scanners make it so fast to get through the line that you barely have time to register if the cashier even acknowledged you with a hello.  Paper or Plastic?  Rarely does the bagger ask anymore.  From being on the other side of the register in a retail store I can attest that there are a whole bunch of customers who can't get off their cell phones to answer any questions about their transaction let alone make small talk with the people around them.  Plus most stores give you the option of self check out if you have just a few items.  Actually having a conversation with someone?  Doubtful.  Maybe that's why Facebook has become what it has...  a substitute for the barber shop, beauty shop, grocery store, or gas station of the past.  It's a place to gather and share with our friends, families and voyeurs the everyday ordinary life things that make us all connect as part of the human race.