We live in a world of information overload,
information thrust at us across all mediums; print, hoardings, building
facades, transport buses, taxis, email, SMS, chat, social media, and now
multiple mobile devices that wake up and stay with us until we go back to
sleep. In bed, while traveling, at work, at home, with friends, in a meeting,
relaxing by the beach, even while in the washroom, we are now connected,
consuming, creating and contributing information to the ever growing heap.
Information overload was a term I heard long
time ago when dial-up internet connectivity was just beginning to get into our
homes. Suddenly the world of information opened up; over the years the quantum
of information just continued to grow exponentially while technology folks
created new terms to encompass the new paradigm. KB to MB took longer than MB
to GB did and GB to TB to PB happened in a jiffy. Suddenly it appeared to be
more than we wanted. Nostalgically, we did enjoy occasional moments of privacy
with sparse cellular coverage, unaffordable handsets and obscenely high
tariffs.
So when along with a few CIOs I met a
learned senior consultant talking about the disruptive nature of technology innovations,
it provoked an interesting debate. He outlined his theory on hyper connected
information overload that every executive faces today. He postulated a world of
hyper mobility where devices connected or disconnected from people receive
information on the go. People consume this information and take decisions that
influence business and personal outcomes. Everyone agreed and sought to look at
the future. The wise man smiled and refrained from making any predictions.
The phenomenon today is driven by multiple
location-aware mobile devices all connected to an ecosystem of corporate data
and applications and personal/business social media interlaced with multiple
apps. Thus corporate decisions are no longer only dependent on transactional or
analysed data within the enterprise. This trend is increasing exponentially
with buzz around Big Data which encompasses all the data. It however does not
factor in the speed at which information is disseminated to the consumer of
information. Are we burning the wires, read wireless, faster than we can
process it ?
I do carry 3 devices (almost) everywhere
with me; my laptop, my tablet and my smartphone. Across these almost all the
information I need on the go is synchronized over the air. They are
interchangeable and yet serve different purposes. From one line responses on
the phone to approvals, dashboards and longer responses on the tablet, the
laptop is still the device for writing posts like this and doing a lot of
figure work with formulas or creating presentations. I know many would jump up
and say all this is doable on the tablet; I personally find it easier on the
laptop.
With divergence being the new convergence,
it is certain that we will continue to waddle between screens; a recent study
talked about multi-taskers using two or three screens connected to the same
desktop computer for enhanced productivity. Really productive ? Velocity of
information will continue to increase and our day will continue to shrink. We
are doing more everyday thanks to technology. Our world is more productive, our
companies more profitable; as individuals we see ourselves evolving faster,
achieving goals quicker than we did even a decade ago. Will we ever stop ? I
don’t know.
What will be the next disruption in this
space ? A connected device to keep us busy while we sleep ?
Hi Arun,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I agree with you. Laptops are lot easier when you have to lots of figure playing to do.... But I want to add one thought here....
Older generations, typically those, who have seen the KB to Mb grow slowly as market broaden its reach and consumers started to release their importance or rather say, MNC companies start to give importance to Customer Relationship management, have still not agreed to accept tablet as part of our thoughtful writing world.... I have not yet accepted it. Though, for quickbies, tablet is a good to go, but my thoughtful writing, I still need the feel of keys below my fingers...(Is it that old TypeWriter feeling, can't say though).
On the other hand, my seven year old son, has taken tablet into his life, as Fish in water, sometimes, he amazes me with his figurative designs on App Store Applications...So, I think, Information Load will be the way of his life, as we have accepted STRESS into our lives as just another phenomenon.
Yeah, a connected device to keep us busy, while we sleep....Good innovative thought.. Wait and Watch, the world unfold this as well...!