Digital Leash
As this is my very first blog post, of many more to come…I wanted to take a step back for a minute prior to moving forward, in order to properly frame where we may be headed. I want to go back to a time that seems like an eternity ago, yet at the same time, like just yesterday.
I want to take a look at the breakneck speed at which all of these things that we as a society have so quickly embraced and have integrated into our lives that we start to feel naked when not attached.
Our technology.
There are many ways which technology has been adopted in our society- high-speed mobile Internet; smartphones with hundreds of thousands of applications- geared towards entertainment, productivity, collaboration, and all the other categories in between; streaming video content online or wirelessly connecting a phone or tablet to your TV (high definition); social media networks connecting us with people we knew long ago, or perhaps with new people we share a particular interest with; music from signed and unsigned artists as well as distributed via legal or illegal means; video games, for both core or social platforms which can be instantly updated with new features, and many other technological breakthroughs that we spend increasing amounts of time with per day.
Anyone could continue that endless list, but I'm sure you catch my drift. We have moved passed the days where measuring trends in terms of decades or centuries were of greatest import and, while valuable in its own right, it is far less relevant now than before the boon of networked technology. It is almost as if time itself has been put on >> x4 . Now trends are measured more accurately by the year…if not month or minute. Not even 20 years ago technology was not only far more fragmented, but also much less accessible or pervasive, for better or worse, this was a reflection of our society and the way businesses operated…a silo mentality.
The BAD News First
We have new addictions forming, potentially every bit as destructive as alcoholism or drug abuse, such as an addiction to gaming so severe that people have died from it in Korea. Technology, possibly inhibiting our face-to-face communication skills and arguably causing a rise in social anxiety, seems to be making people inept interpersonally. Privacy is continually chipped away, we have cameras recording us at every turn, and digital Jesse James' armed with viruses and malicious code to be constantly aware of…wolves in sheep's clothing abound.
Now the GOOD
From anywhere we choose, we have access to a plethora of options to pass our time. We can write a book on the bus during a twice daily public transportation commute and instantly self-publish, we have open source tools allowing us to code an application that we and others could use to increase productivity or a game that people find fun and engaging. We have phones that enable us to talk and web surf simultaneously, or play our favorite jam during an intense run. A device in our shoe wirelessly connects to the phone's application and tracks our distance, speed, and more, and then we post our statistics at the push of a button to update a group of "running partners" who live on opposite sides of the globe. We can group video chat with business partners while we share desktops to complete a presentation for a client contract proposal. An idea for a TV show can be produced with studio-in-the-box tools available on most any computer now. Any would-be director/producer can post their content to YouTube and develop a fan base, read Brian Solis' interview with Miles Fisher for a blueprint on how to make that happen. Make your music and post it to SoundCloud, or another self-publishing platform, while you, an associate, or even a fan that discovered your talent makes your video because you were so inspirational.
So. Which is it, the good or the bad? Is technology inhibiting us or is it liberating?
Are we destined to ends like those portrayed in the multitude of Hollywood films like The Terminator or Mad Max…some version of an apocalyptic tragedy where we meet our collective doom? Perhaps maybe we succumb to the mundane frailty of our human nature and most base desires for survival during a worldwide zombie outbreak?
OR
Is the future to be all butterflies, buttercups, and flying rainbow farting unicorns? A utopian society where technology becomes so incredibly advanced that it becomes organic with boundaries unnoticeably integrated with us and overlayed into direct signals that our Human Senses process and make decisions as to what we choose to experience? Do we become a direct and even more literal version of Chris Brogan’s "Human Digital Channel"? Can it become mainstream to modify our bodies with abilities that are currently impossible? Technology upgrading human senses, allowing people to explore the world in new ways, such as seeing through an ultraviolet eye filter or feeling electromagnetism wherever they go.
Everything is energy…and our brains tell us what we are experiencing based upon electrical signals, so it's not too far fetched to think that a reality such as that could potentially exist, if we can keep from blowing ourselves up. I think it far more likely that the answer is "C"…simultaneously neither and both. Technology is inert; we can do things now with technology that was simply impossible 20 years ago, but it is not the tool that holds the power, it is the operator of the tool. To me, that is the beauty and wonder of people, the varied skill sets, interests and dreams.
The key factor is us, and our ability to apply a balance to all things in life.
Balance
Brian Solis' answer when interviewed on balance sums this thought up very distinctly, he says- "Balance is less like spinning plates and more like running your finger around the rim of partially filled crystal bowls with varying depths of liquids. Each singing bowl makes a unique sound and as a result, music to “one’s” ears."
♪♫♬
I say…Let us make great music together…and forge a future worth living in.
I say…Let us make great music together…and forge a future worth living in.
