Go digital or go home

I admit it. I just love new gadgets. I'm not afraid to try something new. Do you remember when the blackberry first came out? I do. WOW! What a game changer. I instantly became tethered at the hip (literally) to my job. 24x7 access. How grand?!? Did it improve my productivity at work? Probably yes. But it also changed my perspective on "instant gratification" forever.

Fast forward 20 years. Now as I look around, I notice nobody else is "looking around". What are they doing? STARING AT THEIR PHONES. Ooops. Not phones. That smart thing that always on, always notifying us of SOMETHING. Vibrating. Ringing. Sharing. Wow. "Instant everything"...It's a computer packed into our pockets.

I'm beginning to think that the whole societal transformation to digital is simply a way to de-humanize us all. Kinda like that movie "Her". We spend all of our time now staring at screens rather than interacting with each other. Is that progress? Are we evolving? Or maybe even de-evolving (Darwinism at its finest).

Case in point. Have any of you LinkedIn fam recently visited McDonalds? Their most recent addition to the digital world is a huge iPad right inside. It's purpose? For us to self-service our order. That's right. If the creation of the drive-thru wasn't enough to float your boat you now can actually go inside, avoid all human contact (yes, and pay for your food at the kiosk) and just grab and go. Go humans!!!

And for your viewing pleasure, I bring to you AI, bots and the like. I'm sure all to continue our progression to becoming completely isolated and anti-social such that we only interact with machines. Tinder will be replaced by machines like "HER" (and of course "HIM") so that we have successfully removed the need to talk touch or interact with another human ever again. I can't wait.

So why bother with this discussion thread at all. Well, like I said at the outset, I'm really excited about new gadgets and the like. And most recently, I've become intrigued by the Digital connected home. Of course big brother Amazon (and it's little robot Alexa) is at the core of the solution. We can now see who's at our door without actually being home. We can turn on/off lights when we are not home. Well, maybe soon with self-driving cars we can simply program our house to/from work while uber bots drive us around...is a digital home better for you? Better for us? Perhaps. But let's try to keep this in perspective as we wire-up everything. Connect everything. IoT everything.

==> Being connected to the grid 24x7 isn't necessarily progress. My hope that we connect with both "things" and "people" alike, with the scales intentionally titled towards people.

So where is this going? I am a Digital Guy. Yes indeed. But if you would have told me 20 years ago when i received that first BlackBerry (the email device, not the fruit) that it would be the beginning of the fall of MAN (i.e. huMAN), I would have scoffed at the notion and laughed it off. But you know what? In 20 years from the rise of the .com bubble to the here-and-now digital age, technology has progressed greatly. I admire all the innovative start-ups and successes I see around me. But at the same time, I wish we don't forget about the humans. Those carbon based life forms that live breath eat and sleep. Your loved ones. Spouses and children. Don't forget about them. So please. Put that smartphone down for a few minutes. Look around. Be kind loving and generous to others. Don't let progress hold you back.

/marc

Marc is a digital enthusiast (at times) who works with world-class organization on their digital transformation journeys. He can occasionally be found playing around with the latest apps and gadgets but at the behest of others, he does occasional turn his phone OFF at night before he goes to bed <EOR>