So we now live in a world that defines us by the tech that we have access to. In other words we tend to consider people who have yet to embrace smart phone technology as disconnected. “You still have a flip phone?” While on the other side of the coin we have people that carry smart phones, tablets (more than 1), laptops and hotspots for connectivity. So where is all this going? We started out referring to access as “The Web”.
This term became too limited and seem to mean web pages so a switch was needed to be more encompassing of all things connected besides web pages. The formal name seemed to be the best way to go. So “The Internet” is now what we use to refer to being connected. Well not to bore you with evolution, but the internet is now referred to as “The Internet of Things”. To make matters worse that is not enough anymore. Now we have to add a “of what” in there. So I will be focusing on “The Internet of Things on Personal Technology” – #IoTPersonalTech.
When did we reach a time and place where a laptop and a mobile phone was not enough technology to satisfy the appetite of the average person? When did we reach a time when our phone contacts were the only data that you would lose if you were unfortunate enough to lose your device? When did we reach a time where we need more than a 100G of personal space for a device with an additional 20G of space in the cloud, along with more than 2 TB of space for our laptop served up via an external disk drive. All of which is used to hold personal data (unrelated to our professional responsibilities)?
“The Internet of Things on Personal Tech has transformed us unto walking “data generators”. We curate, post, tweet, share, stream, download and upload data at the speed of light. We risk injury and even death generating data while we drive. We have more data now than ever before, growing whole new generations of technology, as a result. Now we have apps to manage apps. Now we have data about the data. Now we have trackers to tell us who is accessing the data and what they did with it as a result.
The question I have is, “Are we all better off, as people, with all of this data.” Many of us are walking around with terabytes of digital information and entertainment. Can anyone remember how to make a dinner reservation without tech? Is this even possible? Can anyone remember how to buy tickets to the movie theater without tech? Well these are simple questions. What about the signage that is displayed now asking you to PAY ATTENTION and to put down the tech, in such places like the local “DMV” and the local “Court House”.
What about the Millennial generation? How would they function without data? “The Internet of Things on Personal Tech” has reached such proportions, now with wearable tech, that a whole new vertical within the tech industry has been created. “The Internet of Things on Personal Technology” will surpass most other technical verticals simply because of the population. Personal tech it not just utilized by the wealthy. These are no longer tools that are used to help us compete in business. We have begun to govern our day to day lives as a result of this and the end result is DATA.
Once again I ask, “Are we better off as people with the amount of personal tech available today.” Will we reach a limit of access where there is not enough space in the cloud to possibly hold it all? We already know that we cannot keep the data secured. That issue will continue to grow as the amount of data that needs protection continues to grow. My fear is that the answer is yes. We will reach of limit of data over load. So then what happens next to us people?
Dr. Craig Brown @craigbrownphd 2015-07-14 23:12:06