Position Paper #3
Forecasting the Future
In the summer of 2020, 915 innovators and developers were asked to give their thoughts on what life will be like as the world tries to get back to “normal”. The most general view from this survey is that “people’s relationship with technology will deepen as larger segments of the population come to rely more on digital connections for work, education, health care, daily commercial transactions and essential social interactions.” As I read through some of the responses from the survey, I noticed that many of these opinions matched up with what I thought the future of technology may be. I wanted to analyze a few of these in a way that forecasted the future of tech.
In the first few responses, there was a more negative tone as the innovators looked at how the future of technology might negatively affect the world. Many of these experts said that, as we grow more into a “tele-everything” world, this could expand the economic inequality among people. As those who may be more technologically educated or even just have more access to digital tools and resources begin to deepen their relationship with technology, they may start to pull away from those with less access and opportunities. This could even affect the variety of job opportunities among the different economic classes. As large technology firms depend more on new media innovations, they may be looking for people with high expertise in the world of technology. This automatically puts people with low access to these tools at a disadvantage.
Another con to the rapidly growing technology industry is that the spread of misinformation and fake news will multiply with seemingly almost every advance. We have already begun to see that people who depend solely on one or two internet based news publications have a tendency to become blind to any misinformation given out by those publications. Many experts, and I agree with this point of view, believe that the growing dependence on media will only increase the amount of fabricated information that is being put out into the world. In addition to just misinformation, some of these experts say they “worry about significant damage to social stability and cohesion” that may come from this future of internet communication.
While the future of digital media and technology may bring on some uneasiness to many people, there are glimmers of hope and benefits that can come from a highly technology dependent society. One of the major benefits that can come from this that we have already begun to see during the pandemic is the ability to adjust to many workers’ families. During 2020, and even extending into 2021, working from home became the new norm. People of many different jobs and careers were having to learn how to work effectively while staying in their house pretty much all day. For a lot of people, this was a frustrating adjustment that had to be made. Most extroverts, and even some introverts, found themselves in a place that restricted them from having real interactions with people in their workplace and this took a toll on both mental and physical health.
However, even in the frustration and exhaustion that many people felt from the full dependence on technology from work, there is something great that can come from this situation. As technology advances and more and more occupations find themselves moving part or all of their businesses into the online circuit, workers who have to balance hard home lives and busy work schedules can benefit greatly. As more businesses and communities work to adjust to these types of situations, not only will the quality of life improve for these employees but also their quality of work.
One of the main effects from media innovations in the future, and possibly the most obvious, is that these technology advancements will allow people to live “smarter, safer, and more productive lives”. With Artificial Intelligence rapidly growing and becoming even “smarter”, key areas like healthcare and education will be able to become more effective in reaching all kinds of people. One of the largest areas that will be affected by these innovations, according to this survey, is the medical field. Many of the experts believe that we will begin and continue to see multiple new innovations including “sensors and devices that allow for new kinds of patient health monitoring; smart millimeter wave machines to diagnose people with disease symptoms; handheld detection devices that citizen swarms use to address environmental problems; and a new class of tele-care workers” among other things. I think, especially as we begin coming out of the age of a pandemic, the future of media innovations will greatly influence the way our medical field works and operates.
Overall, technology is one of the largest influencers in the way people learn and communicate. With such a technology driven year like 2020 behind us, the future of internet communication could go in many different directions. Are people so tired of being almost completely dependent on technology that face-to-face and physical interaction will become more popular? Or will people see how effective technology can be and continue to rely on it as it advances more and more? I think it is a toss up at this point of which way internet communication will go. I certainly believe that innovations within the realm of AI and online education will prevent technology from ever coming close to dying out, but I also think it will be interesting to see what physical communication aspects will come back to life.
Comments
Post a Comment