The Impact of Connectivity: Social, cultural, and professional change
My Dad and I had a chat the other day regarding technology. What is the obsession with technology and our youth? To him, it was complicated; what ever happened to letters written with pencil and paper, and the joy of a simple meeting over coffee? I thought about it for quite some time. Technology has brought people together in ways that wouldn’t normally have been possible before it’s evolution.
There is the argument that people these days are constantly staring at their smart phones and ignoring what is right in front of them. While this argument that technology has lowered people’s self-awareness is quite valid, it has also introduced a new kind of awareness that is both well-rounded and valuable. The ability to connect to the world whenever you please opens up doors — culturally, socially, and professionally.
Take italki, for example, a platform that enables you to learn a language entirely over video chat. This product allows users to connect all over the world. You can search by location, language, and availability to find teachers, language partners, or students. Rather than having to travel to another country, you can log in online, connect with someone with similar interests, and get personal lessons all from home. Not only are people able to learn a language (whether it is by paying an online teacher or exchanging teaching hours for learning hours), but it is connecting people from different countries, exposing them to unique cultures, and broadening their knowledge and perspective on the world.
Socially, the world is changing every day. There are millions of apps, devices, platforms, and ideas that are built to increase connectivity and efficiency. Beyond Snapchat with its “geofilters”, Facebook with its world-wide live streaming, WeChat with international messaging, and Instagram, where you can explore anywhere by location, companies small and large are innovating to make communications clearer, smoother, simpler, and more entertaining.
These changes are affecting individuals and systems on an international scale.
Over the last thirty years, with the adoption of the worldwide web and subsequent rise in information availability, doing business has completely evolved. Not only can you call someone across the world, but you can see them face to face, share screens, share documents, or send money. You can chat with your co-workers and business partners directly via a quick message, or have a video conference with international partners. Everyone can be on the same page without being in the same office, state, or even time zone.
The ease of use of these products is quite something. I can chat with my friend from Colorado that I went to college with and haven’t seen in 10 years I can see pictures of my friends’ children and share the joy they are experiencing with them. A few years ago I’d have to find a landline and hope my friend was sitting at her house or desk to receive the call. More recently, I could have tried to find a desktop computer to shoot off a quick email. Nowadays, I could text, email, Facetime, or chat from one of many devices.
It’s incredible how far we have come in the past few decades, and what we will be able to accomplish in ten years.
