As technology advances, it is giving us the chance to learn more about what it means to be human. It is making it easier to understand, simplify and use the streams of data flowing from our digitally connected world.
The flowering of sensor technology, combined with tumbling data storage and processing costs, is giving rise to a digital world that is rich and complex. From house plants that tweet when they need water to a cup that knows what you’re drinking, the widely hailed Internet of Things promises much for the future. For millions of consumers around the world, living a day without digital technology is almost unthinkable. At the same time, people are questioning the effects of a constantly-on society, as we explored in our 2012 macrotrend The New Sublimity.
As the Self-Quant concept becomes mainstream, consumers are struggling to make sense of the information they collect. The result is a rise in the number of devices that not only analyse, but also harness, an individual’s data to encourage wellbeing and productivity. Consumers are on a quest to learn more about themselves. As a result, wearable technology is expanding beyond calorie-counting to monitoring human emotion. Technology is no longer just the problem. It is becoming part of the solution.