A Post-Screen World?
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
In today’s attention economy, we are bombarded with the number of digital screens we see. It’s the sad truth that no one wants to admit, but we are indeed addicted to our devices.
So what if we told you, in a couple of years there will be a new technology known as “fourth-platform computing” that will enable us to interact with the increasingly connected world, while avoiding the digital screens?
If you haven’t realized already, we have already been transitioning towards a screen free world with the rise of wearable technology. Big companies such as Apple and Fitbit have been trying to convince us that their Apple watches and Fitbit bracelets are the “new best thing”, however this has not yet been proven. The main reason being that these wearable technologies are solely dependent on smartphones. Consumers were given a taste of this new technology and are only hungry for something new and better.
There has been a lot of controversy with what this fourth-platform computing will be. Some say it will be virtual reality, but it’s hard to accept that a form of entertainment that is meant to distract you from the real world is the next best thing. Others see the Amazon Echo as a great product that is headed in the right direction. The Echo allows us to walk into a room and order something or play music with a simple sentence, however it doesn’t necessarily integrate with us as humans. The obvious next step would be to have a form of technology surgically implanted inside our bodies, but I think we can all agree that society is years away from that.
So what does that really leave us with? It’s not completely set in stone, but many believe that this fourth-platform computing will go from wearable technology to hearable technology. Hearables are able to be embedded yet detachable which will not only help people with their smartphone addictions, but best of all, allow people to put a device in their ear and become more productive.
Bragi, a Germany-based company has been able to tap into this new form of technology through what they call the “first true hearable”, the Dash. Originally starting as, a Kickstarter idea (a crowdfunding platform), to a tangible product now available in stores. CMO of Bragi, Jarrod Jordan imagines, “being able to walk into a room and simply control the devices. For example, you walk home and you just lift your arms up and the lights turn on, a double snap and a little Barry White starts playing.” Or “your temperature is high, you’re on your way home and all of a sudden that air conditioner at home knows to turn on. You can do things that are very different by having the computer integrated into you.” So is human body-computer integration really what tomorrow looks like?
Only time will tell.
