Fascinating to see older technologies making a resurgence!

Fax usage is growing in some parts of the world

Times of India article – Older than the telephone, the fax machine refuses to die

This is puzzling at one level and expected at another. We have seen this trend in other areas too:

1. Vinyl records are making a comeback, they are prized possessions now. In fact, there are crowdfunded projects now for cutting your own vinyl records at home with the music you like.
2. When digital and web came, many of us thought that the amount of travel to see places (or) work will come down with the advent of webcams and virtual-walkthroughs. Instead, the number of people travelling is at an all-time high.
   

   The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that internationally there were just 25 million tourist arrivals in 1950. 68 years later this number has increased to 1.4 billion international arrivals per year. This is a 56-fold increase.

3. With web and Wikipedia, the bulk of human knowledge is available for anyone for nearly free at any time, yet we are living in the era of ‘fake’ news and conspiracy theories.
4. With the creation of convenient ebook readers, paper books buying will come down, instead, it is increasing.
5. With the advent of online transactions and investments, currency usage and physical gold buying will come down, instead, it is increasing (or remained at the same level) in India.