Epic news.

Tomorrow cell phone providers will shut off their analog networks which have been the backbones of cell services in the vast spaces between the coasts since the '80s. My first cell phone was an analog Nokia flip that I got for Christmas in 1999. It didn't have a lot of features, but it worked and it made me feel technologically advanced. The cell phone I have now is about the same size as my old one, but it provides more features than what I could have dreamed of in the dark days at the end of the 20th Century.

The termination of the analog cell phone networks is the first step in the digitalization process. In the near future radio and television stations will switch their transmitters to digital and an analog broadcast will become a part of the 20th Century history like the Pony Express and stage coaches were a part of the 19th Century history. At this point it is difficult to say if we are heading toward a brighter future filled with useful digital devices and flying cars depicted in Star Trek or if we are building ourselves a dark, dismal demise ala Mad Max. Either way, it should be an interesting ride.