In the same week that Steve Job has ensured more £’s in his already bulging back pocket and a juicier bite of the Apple with the launch of Leopard O/S, I thought that it would be pertinent to think about the possible futurological effects of technology.We have seen leaps and bounds in the capacity for fast, networked, ‘clever’ and ultimately fun communicative appendages. The effect of which leaves us breathless at the pace of change and impact of new cultural codes, etiquette and social arenas that was only imagined a few years, months, weeks, days, even hours ago.
Who knew that telling the world I am drinking my nth cup of tea of the day whilst swivelling round in my new office chair would be so much Twitter-tastic fun! More surprising is that anyone is actually interested in following this, but follow they do as ‘mazphd’ spins round the office and realises that hot tea, spinning and new chairs do not mix. Lesson learnt.
Now we have a multitude of complex modes of engagement, digital interfaces, and social spaces – all of which ‘demand’ and vie for our attention across a network of links, images and objects, or are we the social objects now? Ok so I’m exhausted just trying to think about it and develop a high-brow and social theoretical response to it all.
So I was asked this week what’s next? Well social networks, forums, user contribution and shared knowledge are the protocol of today that will shape the social experience of tomorrow. What lies at the heart of these contexts is the notion of TRUST.
Don’t trust the network that you are supposedly a part of, well then your level of engagement wanes and you will not continue to cultivate it. It, and you become 'untrustworthy' and hence you disengage as a disconnected social absence. Deliberate and intentional in its action, this has high impact on personal networks and new media tools that you use.
Trust on a more commercial level is very revealing. Which is why websites such as TrustedPlaces, YourSafePlanet and YourRoadTrip.org cleverly work off of such a premise. Nothing says quality and trust like peer-to-peer acclaims and endorsements; whether that new restaurant to try out, trip to take or resources for your travels - because information and advice are a premium and you wouldn't, nor should you, trust anything else.
To turn to the future trends of the ‘hardware’ our current propensity for imaging, recording and broadcasting ourselves to one another will be facilitated by devices fixed on-person that captures every aspect of life. Then you’ll be able to go with your friends when they make their cups of tea, see and maybe even feel the consequences of hot tea/spinning chair action. For now this remains the point finger and laugh domain of YouTube only. So in a way ‘new’ media is just another remit of the same old, and provides new ways procrastination.
In terms of social implications the connected and immersed communication at all times and about relating everything is staggering. Only this week the BBC's consumer programme Watchdog did a ‘report’ (or rather an over-patronising insight) into some of the more negative and abuse-able aspects of SNS that centred around identity theft. However, the report did provide an interesting snapshot into the privacy issues and social surveillance that we as media savvy individuals need to be aware.
As far as the Steve Jobs of the world go, whilst technology does enable society, it is up to the individual the kinds of devices they buy and use, and it is these that will determine our next stage of digital culture.
Lucky for Mr Jobs that Apple looking so juicy and so I’m off to purchase my to be trusted, or rather trusty copy of Leopard tomorrow.
