Honey, My World is Shrinking!

Thomas L. Freidman at the start of the century talked about how technology is making the world flat by breaking barriers. The flat world gave way to new economies, new world class companies, new list of millionaires and billionaires.

Just 10 years after making the world flat, the technological revolution is now making the “world shrink”. The shrinking of the world will have a much bigger, deeper and wider impact and implications for the world than ever before.

How is the “World Shrinking”? I am going to use my personal experience which many are either consciously or sub consciously also experiencing to explain this ‘shrinking of the world’ phenomena.  

1. My Mobile Phone has become my new go-to camera. I do not see the need for all the bulky camera equipment I used to carry around. I save my photos in my cloud and I’m perfectly able to view and share them via social media.

2. I share my ideas, views and thoughts in fewer words thanks to social media platform so I am not constrained by my poor spelling and language skills which used to be the case with long essay type articles. 

3. I listen to my music on the new state of the art Bluetooth speakers with music streamed from music apps such as Spotify. I don’t see the need for big, heavy speakers, amplifiers, CDs or music servers any more.

4. I read my books either on my mobile or my kindle. I do not see the need to buy and store books anymore. Kids do the homework on their laptops all the time and all their textbooks are available online. The need for physical books has disappeared completely.

5. I order my grocery online – of any and every kind and variety which get delivered in real time basis. The need to store grocery has disappeared so is my weekly visits to grocery stores.

The list can go on and on and this shrinking is not just restricted to my home- it is going way beyond. If the aspiration of people like Elon Musk is any indication we may as well change the old saying “Sky is the Limit” to may be “Mars is the limit” as both space and sky are within the reach of normal humans just like the air travel is today.

Not “If” but “when” the concept of Hyperloop gets commercialized the speed of the sound will also shrink and with it the geographical distances (LA to SFO in 35 minutes). It will fundamentally change the way we live in the future impacting the real estate markets significantly. 

For example, I order my favourite food via one of the food delivery apps. The need for the restaurants to have bigger seating space will disappear. Also, along with hyperloop, the kitchen can be away from the expensive city centres. The Sky, sorry, Mars is the Limit!

Honey, My world is Shrinking and Shrinking Fast!

The Implications: In essence, the need for acquiring things and finding more physical space to store them is slowly disappearing. Suddenly, one may find their houses more spacious. I always desired a bigger space in home meaning buying a bigger place but now I question – do I really need more space as I am gaining it as the world is shrinking?

What if I want to experience the fun of a bigger place like a penthouse? Well there is another ‘shrinking of the world’ phenomenon which can help me to gain that experience -Airbnb! Enjoy the penthouse experience without investing millions.

The concept of possession, acquisitions, and in turn aspirations is changing slowly for my generation but rapidly for the next generation as they are growing up in a time when the world around them is shrinking!

The old economies have to change and adapt or perish - Walmart is learning the lesson the hard way, JC Penny already learnt it!

What Next? From a technology perspective – after making the world flat, then shrinking it, it now needs to integrate the world.

An example is the problem faced by global travellers of changing the sim cards: How about a built-in chip in our mobile phone which take away the need for a different sim card when I travel across the world – I just connect to a service provider of my choice in the country of my travel the way I connect to a Wifi connection and pay through my online payment mode!

The problems which needed to be solved or simplified are numerous. There are huge opportunities to capitalize and create impact. Only I wish I could shrink my age and be young again.