Making miles disappear

✒ THE media could help all citizens to use their imagination to much greater benefit.

A short time ago, most British citizens would explain that our country had a huge economic problem, of choked transport on crowded roads, which cost the country millions.

All of a sudden, a corona pandemic has revealed that all of us were stupidly looking in the wrong direction. What the nation needed to invest in was not more roads, but 5G – the ability for all citizens to connect electronically with others, without travelling 100 miles to talk and share plans with them.

That is the method to solve the traffic congestion, by reducing the need to travel. We need roads to transport goods, but, if we can eliminate the unnecessary travelling of people who can be more productive where they work, then the roads become available for easy travel for all others.

As we know, the vast hordes commuting into cities can be greatly reduced by many employees working from home. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have suddenly had two hours per day added to their lives.

We already discovered that the mobile phone was a method to make all business more efficient, by having instant access to parts of an organisation separated by distance.

Electronic messaging connects the minds of people, quite regardless of time or distance.

We should learn to think differently – that miles on a map can be dissolved by tapping a button.

CN Westerman

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