In the decade of the 2010s, significant socioeconomic and technological changes took place. However, many of these advancements were so swiftly ingrained in our everyday lives that they frequently went overlooked and had a little lasting impact. The 2020s will see a similar pace of rapid and significant breakthroughs, as we anticipate.
The usage of social media, online platforms like YouTube and Facebook, and technology like the internet, cellphones, and smartphones has increased noticeably, in some cases reaching dynamic contrast among important population segments.
Nowadays you may also use casino apps on your smartphone to play slots, blackjack, roulette, poker, and other games whenever you want (Source: https://sportslens.com/online-casinos/apps/).
Social Media
Social media appeared to be much easier ten years ago.
Our newsfeeds weren’t covered in sponsored advertisements. There were hardly any social media influencers. It was best to leave photo editing to the experts, and there was no such thing as live streaming through an app.
Social media has mostly changed over the past ten years from a way to maintain contact with others to a way to display our possessions or curate unrecognizably altered versions of ourselves.
We switched from using up our internet plans and digitally teasing our Facebook pals to being continually immersed in a sea of memes. The effect of social media has altered how we communicate and tainted political elections while constantly posing privacy-related concerns.
It’s safe to assume that social media is here to stay after more than a decade of browsing, thumbs-upping, swiping, and double-tapping.
Less than 1 billion people signed up in 2010. Since Myspace was dethroned, that number has tripled.
Smartphones: Social media in the era of desktop computers was an accumulation of memories uploaded after the fact, serving as a record of past events. However, as social media migrated to smartphones, it evolved into a real-time broadcast of events. These platforms are now used by businesses, media organizations, and governments as well as people to quickly share real-time information.
Social media platforms developed information hubs by combining these many types of material, grabbing users’ interest and taking up a lot of their time. In 2019, digital advertising spending topped that of conventional advertising methods like TV and radio. Advertisers took note and kept pouring money into social media platforms and search engines.
Artificial Intelligence – AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone a radical change in the last ten years, and more so in the last few years, less so in terms of what we can accomplish with this technology as in terms of how we interact with it. Some people date the start of this age to 2007, the year smartphones were first introduced. Whether it comes from an artifact or an animal, intelligence is intelligence at its core.
It is a type of computation and an information transformation as a result. We have been able to transmit a vast amount of implicit and explicit information from human civilization via human minds into digital form thanks to the plethora of intensely private information that emerged from the purposeful anchoring of a significant section of society to the Internet. Here, we may use it to not only work with human-like proficiency but also to generate new information and actions using machine-based computation.
This ability to apply AI for discovery has been enhanced by advancements in AI and ML algorithms as well as the enormous growth in digital information and available computing power. Right now, we’re looking for images, videos, audio, and even the best platforms that do trading for us robotically so we don’t have to. We have the ability to fabricate film, read lips, read emotion (even lying), translate, transcribe, fake documents, and read lips.
AI is already here, accessible to everyone, and helpful. However, not only are its effects on our social order not understood, but they have also seldom ever been the focus of research until lately. But now, too, with developments in robotics, AI is creeping into our physical surroundings in the shape of self-driving cars, weaponry, drones, and domestic gadgets like “smart speakers” (actually, microphones), game consoles, and even autonomous vehicles.
Cloud Storage
In the past, businesses and consumers kept their software and data on desktop hard drives or local servers. However, off-premises storage and internet software became more popular as datasets became more complicated, and improved network connections allowed for the quick movement of data over the internet.
For instance, cloud-based storage enables easily scalable data capacity while enabling distant and more versatile access across a variety of devices. Through efficient and secure digital environments, cloud computing helps businesses to carry out crucial business processes like accounting and HR administration.
The software industry transitioned from actual CD-ROMs to the operating system business model, which enables enterprises to provide real-time software upgrades, remote connectivity, and centralized data storage in exchange for subscription fees.
Scalable Blockchain
A shared digital record that is immutable after a transaction has been confirmed and recorded is the most basic definition of a blockchain; in other words, this technology makes it virtually impossible to forge transactions.
A scalable and private blockchain will have “approximately one billion users by the end of the decade, up from roughly 50 million users,” according to Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. According to him, new blockchains with improved performance will start to appear in the future, which will increase scalability.
He believes that technology start-up enterprises will use cryptocurrencies with machine learning and the internet. Armstrong predicts a large entry into this market by institutions and governments as a component of this trend. Emerging markets are predicted to be another source of blockchain growth as they look for monetary systems which are more dependable and efficient than conventional ones.
Tech to Fight Tech
Our increased time spent staring at devices while sitting motionless is a side effect of the electronic era that can be quite harmful to our health. There is a growing need for tech solutions to assist maintain and control the three principles of health—exercise, food, and sleep—as individuals become more conscious of the hazards this poses.
There are fitness trackers, like Fitbit and the Apple Watch. Calorie counters and meal trackers such as MyFitnessPal and Lose It are available. Additionally, there are beds from SleepNumber and the SleepWatch app that track your sleep.
There are also a ton of different tools, programs, and services that may measure our health with the aim of encouraging us to be more active, eat better, and get more rest. Of course, it’s yet unclear whether technology will be the panacea to combat the negative impacts of excessive technology.
Conclusion
It should come as no surprise that technology developments and trends are advancing at a staggering rate. The tendencies that will be most prominent over the next ten years include, but are not limited to, the ones that we have described above. In the meantime, there are most likely a whole host of innovations in the process of being developed.
Our objective is to ensure that the progress made by businesses and organizations leads to an improvement in the lives of individuals and societies all over the world as they become more efficient and accurate.