A popular B2C eCommerce marketplace
announced that it will shut down the website and engage customers only on the
mobile phone; the news had everyone wondering about the wisdom behind such a
move. Various views prevailed on the trigger towards this unusual step;
speculations did not stop despite press releases that outlined the rationale
behind the move. Everyone watched with abated breath when D-day arrived; a few
days later a small dip in traffic and revenue was reported with an optimistic
view that they will bounce back.
It is published statistics that number of
smartphones is increasing globally; the personal device is also becoming the
primary means to access Internet, browse, check email, communicate, socialize,
and do some personal and official work. Phones are also getting smarter,
larger, with higher compute capacity now beginning to rival computers of a not
too distant past, offer reasonable mobile storage and increasingly better
cameras. Conventional wisdom says that mobile is and will remain the primary
device of choice.
Then the latest hype and hoopla is around
wearable technology; it all started with glasses (the kind you wear on the
eyes) mimicking some of the futuristic movies of the 90s depicting humanoids
with special powers. Next came fitness bands which offered alternative ways to
view limited information while they monitored body vital functions; these were
followed by smart watches wanting to change the way you consume information. Seesawing
between screen sizes, each device competed for attention by offering
notifications of all types (see Divergence
is …).
Did I forget tablets which now masquerade
as mini-laptops or phablets that disguise themselves as big sized phones or
handy sized tablets ? Crossovers of all types have attempted to bridge a
perceived gap until they either became the standard or irrelevant. Case in point
as an example, laptops with touchscreens or tablets with keyboards competing
for bag space. Depending on need and at times driven by corporate policy, there
are cases where both have won and coexist as personal and work device.
Are we obsessed about staying connected or
is technology pressurizing us into compulsive behaviour for the next
notification or alert. Who benefits from connected devices and alarms that keep
us on our toes ? Is our life changing for the better or worse with guiding
forces that we no longer control ? From a closed society that valued privacy we
have moved to an open world where almost everyone has access to life events
that we decided to share and then exercise control on who can see them
forgetting that it has been cataloged for data mining !
Coming back to the Thing that could/will be
the primary information creation and consumption device(s), it is quite likely
and highly probable that contextually there will be separation. We will have
the choice on how we would like consume; willingly or inadvertently we will be
broadcasting data into the servers of service providers, marketers, and feed
analytical engines through the various Things that on or off us will monitor what
we are up to in our lives and the feedback mechanism will to nudge our choices
subconsciously.
Information consumption shall extend beyond
visual interactions to encompass auditory as well as kinaesthetic experience. I
think the phone as we know it today will probably retain a large share while
other form factors (may be integrated into the phone or discrete) will complete
the experience. Change contextually will be driven by where we are, what we are
doing, who are we with, time of the day, at work or home or leisure, traveling
or stationary, and finally personal choice based on peer influence and personal
comfort.
There will also be forced or chosen moments
of disconnected bliss (let’s call it Digital Vacation) until withdrawal
symptoms give way to the craving or we time out the detached life. Extreme
cases would undergo Digital detoxification camps and participate in support
groups (not digitally but in person) and be monitored actively ironically by
digital devices. Does this situation sound too dramatic, hypothetical or out of
science fiction ? Well I believe that the future is already here for some while
others will catch up sooner than later.
Blessed would be a few who can at will
detach themselves and have no impact on professional or personal life.
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