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How are digital technologies changing the world?

Digital technologies have already altered the world in which we live. Globally, we are more connected than ever before. Our personal digital footprint makes available increasing amounts of data about ourselves and the lives of others, all the while raising questions about our privacy, security and identity. Industries have been revolutionised, and opportunities abound.

Business disruptions

A great many industries have been disrupted, or have significantly evolved in response to innovations and opportunities tied to developments in digital technologies. To name but a few:

  • The music industry has had to overhaul its business model. In the age of YouTube, Spotify and open sharing of music online, the value in music has shifted from the individual track or album to live experiences such as concerts and festivals. Digital platforms have also provided established and emerging artists with new routes to connect with and engage fans and collaborators.
  • Retail is an often cited example of an industry that has been significantly disrupted and evolved thanks to digital technologies. E-commerce has revolutionised the high street. The pace of evolution continues at speed as online stores and apps are also accompanied by frictionless one-touch or voice-activated purchasing.
  • The leisure, travel and tourism industry has been improved by digital technology's ability to destabilise monopolies of traditional providers. Thanks to AirBnB your spare bedroom is now a hotel room. Thanks to Uber, your car is now a taxi. Thanks to the likes of Google and the developments of GPS technologies, our cars can safely drive themselves. This isn't simply a question of how we commission such services or products, but also addresses what those services actually are and where we find them.
  • The finance sector and payments industry have, and continue to see, significant devlopments. The days of online banking seem quaint in contrast to a world now emerging where we pay for goods in stores with our mobile phones or with payment rings being pioneered by Visa and Kerv. And the concept of currency itself is challenged through the emergence of cryptocurrencies.

Integration and the cloud

As digital technologies began to improve business practices and processes, so too grew the demand for us to have ever larger and more complex systems for storing, securing and sharing data. So, the investment in large data-centres, complex IT infrastructures and networks evolved. But always, it seemed, never at the same pace as our processes and approaches demanded.

Now, we live in a world in which businesses increasingly store data and use services that operate and are hosted in the cloud (virtual data-centres controlled and maintained by third party companies). Services such as Dropbox and Google Suites typify cloud-based storage and data-sharing.

While cloud-based data management carries risks of reliability, privacy and security, they also carry the advantage of interconnectedness between systems and platforms. Businesses no longer need a single-source solution for every operational system they require. Instead, we can adopt the best platforms for niche services. Through consistent publishing standards and open access application programming interfaces (APIs) we can configure systems to connect and work with each other. In doing so, we make our processes more efficient, and reduce the costs of maintaining and developing our own data storage systems.

Big data

As digital technologies become more central to how we manage our day-to-day lives and social needs, so too are we digitising data about ourselves at an ever-growing rate.

Every time we shop online, we reveal information about our buying preferences and behaviours. Every time we comment on a friend's status update on Facebook, we share something about our interests, values and motivations. Every time we post an image of a box of tissues and cold remedies on Instagram, we feed data trends that help to assess and predict regional health risks. Every time we use a device that tracks our location, we reveal data about population mobility.

From governments, to town planners, to health agencies and insurance companies, to marketers, to researchers... the list is endless. The information and data that we offer about ourselves through our use of digital technologies has significant benefits for analysis and planning in all industries and walks of life. Of course, it also raises the fear of how our data is being collected and used.

Intelligent systems

Automation, and the use of machines to replace tasks routinely and previously conducted by humans is nothing new. That, of course, has been the direction of travel for every technological development for centuries. The wheel, the printing press, the car... all technological developments that replace something else, especially replacing human effort.

But now we live in a world in which machines and systems don't just replace our physical effort, they also replace our intellectual efforts. Driverless cars are perhaps the most often-cited example of intelligent systems replacing a human-led activity (though auto-pilot systems on airplanes are hardly anything new). But it goes much deeper.

Decisions around the purchase and sale of stocks and shares can now be automatically made by computer programmes. Advertising space is auctioned on online systems where computers bid for and agree the deal on who wins the space and how much they pay for it. Chat bots handle customer service interactions, sometimes smart enough to make us think that we're engaging with a real person.

The growth of artificial intelligence is empowering us to replace humans with machines for tasks that require intellectual capacity and decision-making, and increasingly even for interactions that require emotional intelligence.

Internet of things

We're used to a world now in which our computers and phones are connected to the internet. But what about the other devices in our lives? Our fridge-freezer, washing machine, car, bike, wedding ring, dog lead, kettle, house keys...

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a general term that refers to the digital connectivity (internet access) of ordinary every-day objects in our lives.

A more popular application of IoT technology that we see in many homes is the connectivity of central heating systems to the internet. Through products such as Hive and Nest, we can now control the heating, lighting and home security via our mobile phones and internet connectivity. Coupled with GPS tracking technologies, these systems know when to turn devices on or off based on how close to the house you are. In turn, they're able to make our homes more efficient and secure.

But it doesn't stop there. Every item that we own can theoretically be connected to the internet. That spot in the fridge door where you always keep the milk? There a sensor will know when you're getting low on milk and automatically add it to the basket of your online food shop. And your toilet seat could include sensors that track your toilet behaviours and offer early-warning signals if you suddenly seem to be spending a lot more time on the toilet than you ever have before. In the future, your toilet seat might also automatically schedule an appointment for you with your doctor.

Human impact

The human impact of the advancement of digital technologies mustn't be overlooked. Research and evidence to conclusively say how digital technologies impact on us individually is, at times, contradictory and embryonic. But significant trends are worth noting.

Different trains of thought suggest that:

  • Digital technologies usher in more of an "on demand" culture. Netflix has stopped us having to wait another week to watch that next episode, so why should I have to wait until September to start studying that course?
  • Advancements in creating frictionless user experiences in every touchpoint of our lives result in the removal of "challenge" and thus the removal or learning opportunities. If technology makes everything more simple and straightforward for us, how do we ensure that we continue to develop ourselves intellectually and not simply rely on machines for this?
  • Ever increasing content online and competition for our attention may lead to a shift in our attention spans. Some argue that there has been a decline in human attention spans, while others argue that this is not quite so simple and the impact is more context-dependent.
  • While on the one hand we readily provide information about ourselves online, sometimes unknowingly, we are also becoming more sensitive to the need for personal security and data protection.
  • The use of algorithms to control what content we see through platforms such as social networks and search engines can narrow our view on the world and close off visibility to differing world views. The algorithms simply filter a view of the world that reinforces our existing beliefs. What we first thought of as globalisation and mass social connectivity, can actually in turn lead to isolationism and closed niche communities.
While there are a great many positive impacts of digital technologies on human development and the individual, we must remain mindful and aware of the challenges and developments that they also bring.