America standardized

One thing really bothered me after I came to the US: There seems to be too many chain stores than I would enjoy seeing in my life. From grocery stores to supermarkets, from fast food to high-end restaurants, from retailers to department stores, perhaps also add in hotels, gas stations, and anything you can think of. In almost every business, you can think of a few dominating companies that come to your mind immediately.

I thought it is because I lived in LA, a major city, so I got more chances to see these chain stores trying to claim their share of the big market. But as I traveled across the country, my last hope was shattered. Now I have collected enough samples to safely claim that America, after all, is a highly standardized country for daily life experience. It doesn't matter where you are - East coast or West coast, you end up stuck with the same stores.

Coming from a country where small business, especially retailers and food shops flourish, I personally find the situation of business standardization in US boring and annoying, almost to a point of intolerable. In US, people can travel thousands of miles but still eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same stores, and stay at the same hotel chain. To me, this is nothing but boredom.

I understand that at times people want services that are up to a standard, especially when they come to a unfamiliar city. Therefore, the chain stores provide an easy way for people to know what they are getting by the names. This is of course a concern, especially for things that a standard must be met but it is difficult to tell before one uses the service. Hotels, gas, and car maintenance are the things I could think of. So I am less against chain stores in these categories.

On the contrary, I am particularly angry about the fast food and retailer chains. Do the names McDonald or Wendy make my hamburger more tasty? Do I trust fried chicken made in Kentucky better? Do people have to hang a bell in front of the store before they can make good taco? So why am I seeing all these chain stores for more than 100 times on the way across the country, to the extent that I doubt people don't know how to make hamburgers, fried chicken, and taco if the store name is changed. This doesn't make sense to me, because I know if people go to these fast food restaurants, the objective is not to look for a high standard meal. It is just to get something to eat and get full. So what is the point to make such places standardized to have something not so attractive to expect and deprive the fun of having different restaurants add their own twists to the food? I understand that eventually hamburgers or fries cannot be very different from one another, but I would be much happier to see stores trying to be different and failing to do so, rather than trying to be the same and failing to do so (That's true. If you notice, the fast food chain stores still taste different from one to the other)!! Back in Taiwan, there are countless of small restaurants or food stands providing basic food, such as fried rice, various noodles, etc. Because they do not belong to the same chain, so there is always difference, for good or bad, when I enter a new place. Although most of them still end up similar because the basic food just cannot be very different, this always adds additional fun into an ordinary meal. I am just sick and tired seeing the same store signs, menu, and interior decoration all over the place. Variety is the spice of live, and think this is particularly true when food is concerned.

By the same token, I also dislike seeing the same grocery stores, department stores, and household item retailers. It is after all the product I buy that matters, not the shop where I get it from. I am perfectly fine if I don't have Target, Albertsons, Walmart, BestBuy, or Office Depot around, as long as there are still shops for me to get towels, fruits, cans, hard drives, and printer papers. In fact, I would be much happier if I am not bombarded by the omnipresence of these too familiar names. As opposed to getting products from well-established producers ensures the quality of the goods I get, I just don't see a point of having well-established retailers.

I understand there is an economical drive behind all this, what we generally refer to as "scale of economy". But after traveling all the way across the country seeing the same signs of all the chain stores, I felt like I am traveling in the world of sameness. My daily life experience cannot be very different whether I am in LA or NY or Seattle or Chicago, wherever you name it. Because wherever I am, I still visit branches of the same chains for my basic needs, and hence the daily routines become essentially the same. This fact, to me, has really become a thorn in the back that I know I can never get rid of.

One thing remains puzzling to me: While the mainstream value of America honors diversity and variety, encourages people to pursue different ideas, and promotes that every person is unique and valuable, how can American people tolerate such a world that you see chain stores in almost everything? Isn't this idea of standardization, lack of variety and uniqueness against the key value? It seems to me that what we believe and what's happening in the real life are totally contradictory, and within that I am dully confused.

Traveling in the Information Era

I have been in the US for three years since 2003. During these years I traveled whenever I had spare time to do so. I enjoyed observing people around me while traveling. Through what they do I try to reason about how they live and think, and what is the meaning behind these small things. Sometimes from tiny observations I build up my new understanding about the world, and this is part of the fun of my trips.

My latest observation was the needs for travelers has changed. The change is not due to a temporary frenzy for hot technology or superficial popular culture, but more roots at fundamental changes in the way people live their lives. There are a lot of small pieces of evidence here and there. Throughout the trip I observed, and based on these interesting small things, I could see much more clearly then before that the information era has truly arrived.

An always-connected life style

People say that the Internet is the most important invention in the late 20th century. It makes people more connected then they ever were. Through the information highway, a user can virtually be wherever he wants to be. One is able to visit other cities and countries, search through thousands of libraries worth of information, and hear from people at any corner of the world, without leaving his daily routine. The capability of the virtual infrastructure is ever expanding, and there is never a single day that people become less dependent on it.

This sounds cool, but there is fundamental issue: The same technologies that enable you to visit wherever you want without leaving your daily routine can in turn make you unable to escape from the daily routine wherever you go, whether it is against your will or not. Sometimes, it is so convenient and natural that people start to take it for granted to be connected, and start to feel uneasy when they fail to do so.

And as time goes by, the difference between where we physically are gradually fades away. As people now live part of their lives in the virtual space, the weight "locality" carries in life is getting light. Yes it is still important, but perhaps much less than 20 years ago. I had noticed several incidents along my trip: At the motel I stayed at Hatch, Utah, one young traveler asked the owner about wireless network so he can check his email. While I was taking in the great view at the Sunrise Point at Bryce Canyon National Park, a mid-age man spoke on cellphone probably about work next to me for more than 10 minutes. Obviously, both of them did not come all the way so they could catch their work at a nicer setting. However, since getting in touch or keeping updated is considerably easier than it was before, it is now almost subconscious that we we try to do it.

This subtle trend not only changes how people behave, but also changes how hotels run their business. A couple years back when I traveled I used to see hotels put up signs saying "HBO/ESPN/free breakfast/pool" to allure customers. Nowadays, in addition to these traditional treats, free wireless network is on top of the list. I took this shot at the intersection of Utah 12 and Utah 24, close to the west entrance of CapitalReef National Park.
and this shot at GreenRiver, Utah
In both cases WLAN is at the top of the list. This only happens within less than two years or so.

I am not against wireless network or ubiquitous computing/communication. After all, this is my research area and it is only to my benefit if the concept takes off. However, during this trip I really felt I could remain connected to my contacts through e-mail and phone if I wanted, and actually I really tried to stay in contact as much as I could. I checked emails maybe 10 times a day during the trip so I felt comfortable. It was perhaps awkward considering I was on a trip, but the technology has become so convenient that I felt I should do so, and people would expect me to do so. The information era brings along a lot of convenience, but with such convenience there is an invisible web that we cannot get away. It doesn't matter where I am, it doesn't matter what time it is, and it doesn't matter what I am doing. As long as I take action I can stay in touch, and it is so convenient that I might as well just do so. The idea of "get-away trip" is diminishing, at least I feel so.

Probably I am just afraid that one day the information technology becomes so advanced that the physical location no longer matters. Envision a future when people live a great portion of their lives in virtual spaces. While being anywhere is equivalent to being everywhere else in the boundless virtual space, when that day comes, in the physical world nowhere can ever be somewhere. That would mark the end of the concept of traveling. I just hope that day will not arrive too soon.

How I did it during the days?

I think I have become a bit too attached to the email system at least. In the last year or so I had developed the tendency of checking the email very often, perhaps on hourly basis. I become uneasy when I am "offline" for extended periods. As the trip is concerned, I also had to stay in touch so that people didn't get worried.

I set off with my laptop computer and a new cellphone I got one month before the trip. The phone has GPRS so I can check my mail on the road, and take action if needed - it turned out nothing urgent came up, but with this phone I felt much easier on the road, just because I am now "always connected".

However this is only part of the solution. I can check mail, but it is not so convenient to write mails or use browser on the small phone with number keys only. Luckily the phone also has a bluetooth connection, so I can hook it up with my laptop computer and use it as a modem. Through the trip I was able to access the Internet at hotels most of the time trough the cellphone, where WLAN connectivity is not provided. With that, I could send mails, book hotels for the coming days, or contact friends at Gainesville to arrange my future settle-down, all at my finger tips in the hotel room.


It was a unique new experience to me and amazing in two ways: (1) The cellphone dial up works at the speed of a modem, and I was forced to painfully recall how slow the modem was. Modems were widely used just less than 10 years ago. However, the technology has advanced so fast that what was state-of-art 10 years ago has become intolerable. (2) In the movie "Mission: Impossible" released on 1996, one interesting scene is the agents in the movie trying to send some data through cellphone connection before their train moves into a tunnel. It was considered cool and futuristic at the time. Ten years later, I, a normal graduate student, is able to use what was considered high-end service only for top-secret agents. Again, the technology has advanced so fast.

I really had mixed feelings toward the technology that enables all these services. It can be nice to have, but it can be a burden to have, too. I guess this is something we have to live with, and eventually get used to, in the great information era.