That is how my parents view technology and me. I find this categorization both sad and funny. Sad, because I did not wish to top the chart on this list. I would have been happy with the number 2. And funny because every time my mother wants to call my aunt living abroad she would ask me to connect her to my aunt through WhatsApp. She uses TECHNOLOGY to talk to her sister. She uses Spectrum Internet and TV service to entertain herself. Yet, technology is a ‘problem’. Nice one mom!
It was only recently that she came to me and asked to download a song for her. I passed her ‘that’ look. You know with that smirk… So I sat her down and told her how blessed we are to live in an era where technology co-exists with us. And how this technology will change our lives in 20 years. Here is the summary of that chat in case your family is like mine…
Disease? What is That?
While the progressing technology is trying to come up with ways to cure deadly diseases like Cancer, the disease might not even exist 20 years from now. I am not exaggerating when I say that technology can advance to an extent in the next 2 decades that diseases like Cancer would be able to be prevented, let alone cured. Just come to think of it, we are living in the year 2018 and have already been introduced with watches that monitor our heart rate and the number of calories we burnt during a workout session. In about 20 years’ time, we will be using devices that will be able to monitor the blood sugar levels or the changes in hormonal levels in our body. Some researchers claim that the future watches might also be even to predict the optimal time for pregnancy. Woah (inserts the relevant emoji)!
What Do I Do With All the Free Time?
There was a time when every single chore took more time than it takes us to perform the same task today. Compare manual data entry with scanners at the grocery stores. What grocery stores you ask? I am not astonished if today’s kids are not familiar with the concept of entering a four-walled hall just to get lost between aisles looking for a bar of soap or a pack of crisps. Not to forget the extra things one loaded the trolley with on the way. With the introduction of online grocery stores, everything reaches your doorstep. And if you do feel like visiting the physical store, you do not have to line up in long lines to pay for what you have bought. Self-scanners have made lives easier than before. Saving you your precious time as well as the hassle!
However, this is just the beginning. The future holds a lot more advancements in store.
Say Hello to Your New Friend- AI
Artificial intelligence is a bad boy!
Believe me when I say that. I am as pleased as you guys are to be introduced to this concept. However, do you realize that Artificial Intelligence can be a source of threat to us in the future?
Well, AI and the robots (the smarty-pants that they are), will soon be performing most of the tasks that we do. Robots are already being used in restaurants and grocery stores. An estimate reveals that this could mean around 45 million to 70 million people losing their jobs in the next decade. So, when I talk about AI reshaping the lives completely in the future, I am torn between the feelings of fear and ecstatic-ness.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality has already introduced us to a couple of concepts that we could not have thought of in the wildest of our dreams. In the future, scientists tend to reap even more benefits from this technology. Soon the classrooms won’t have textbooks and students will be taught completely using VR. Virtual Reality has already changed the way we view games. And it is expected that there will come a time when we won’t even have to visit the stores to try on a top. VR will take care of that.
Internet and TV
I think we are already living in an era where internet and TV can be used interchangeably. Introduction of apps like Netflix and devices like Google Home, it has become easy for people to connect the TV to whatever they are streaming online. However, with the dense traffic online, it becomes hard to download or stream stuff online at a high speed. Well, good news for the binge-watchers and online shoppers, telecommunication companies are already in the process to introduce 5G. The future of the internet and TV seems so bright and speedy man.
Even the thought of such technological advances excites me. I wonder how would it seem to be a part of the actual world that technology will design for us a decade or so from now? I hope I live to witness that not-so-imaginable version of the world. I also hope that I will have more options when it comes to the internet and that my queries will be resolved without even making a call. Till then I think I will cling to my Spectrum Silver package and wait for the technology to introduce me to a better version of the internet.
