Personal admin: Panda or Prada

Immersive observation around a city such as Shanghai illustrates just how much personal digital admin dominates normal everyday life. Social media micro-management is second nature, mobile devices dominate attention and technology is changing the way people consume.

 Much has been made of Chinese consumers’ enthusiastic embrace of mobile cashless payment systems (like Alipay, WeChat) especially for micro-purchases such as food, drink, tickets, tolls, rentals... QR codes are ubiquitous in first-tier cities in China where cash is almost as rare as a Panda in Prada. Technology has become synonymous with on-demand instant gratification.

Just as with voice recognition, (VUI, an almost child-like interaction) the use of mobile QR code technologies for all transactions can also seem impetuous: want, point, pay, consume.

This kind of purchase process is so instant and distant that even the level of human interaction in a cash-based transaction is diminished.  Technology is affecting  purchasing decisions, how values are measured and how people interact with each other.

While consumer life used to be segmented – goods and services categorised like caged exhibits in a zoo complete with descriptors - now it’s closer to an aquarium where everyone circulates in the same liquid state, the element of technology distorting traditional definitions.

Convenient apps and services feel a long way from being truly seamless, intelligent and connected; we all still juggle passwords, updates and content management.  While a smart ecosystem of technologies to help reduce complexity is likely with developments such as Blockchain in conjunction with great UX design. In theory anyway.

 But coming soon are further layers of personal admin required to navigate this breathless world. Future mobility in particular is set to usher in a myriad of additional layers of complex admin to process: car data monetisation, vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V), Internet 2.0.

 So if you thought life was complex enough, just wait till you jump in your next car.

davey/tko: an ideas company.