Future Gazing - yesterday, today and tomorrow, the change of the world as we know it

As I reflect on the role of social media in both my life and the lives of those around me, it amazes me how far this medium has come within my lifetime, and how much it has shaped and changed the world.

As mentioned in an earlier blog ‘Life onthe edge of the digital world’ I am a digital immigrant. It was not until my late teens that I was exposed to the Internet, and  that’s because it simply was not around (at east in the form it is today). When I wanted to talk to people, we either met up face to face, or had a phone conversation – yes we actually talked and had real life relationships! Mobile phones were a massive heavy brick (that looked like a car battery in size) that only the super rich had. There was no text messaging – we talked and wrote real English – acronyms like LOL and Gr8 were not around. And we survived.

I look at life now and how much social media, the Internet and digital technology has entwined itself in our lives. Personally over the years I have gone from a typewriter to a personal computer to mobile devices. I rarely use my PC, most of my Internet interactions are done through either my iPhone or iPad. It really would not surprise me if in the years to come the PC will be an obsolete piece fo technology, something those of us who lived through it reign in the technological world as the must have for every home, will chuckle and think and we thought that revolutionized the way we live.

Technology today has revolutionized the way we live, interact, work and have relationships. Without these devices it is simply very hard to live a normal life in todays world. Everything is either online or done online.

The downside of this is that we are only beginning to discover the ramifications of living our lives within the public sphere of social media. Employers now scour social media sites life Facebook when deciding on potential candidates. Huffington Post reports that 27 percent of employers use Facebook to pre-screen applicants and 11 percent had plans to start doing so.

The undercover recruiter provides an insight into how employers use social media to screen applicants.

There are an abundant number of organisations that you can now hire to clean-up your online profile. FoxBusiness provides six useful tips to clean up your social media profile

Whilst social media has many benefits we are openly exposing ourselves and giving away our privacy so willingly through these mediums.  So quick are we to check in at a location, update our relationship status etc – effectively informing the world of our most intimate details and going ons. Whilst for most this does not cause a problem, for some the dark side of the Internet rears its head and creates an opening for some with malicious intent.

Something that keeps coming back to me is a video I saw  few years ago called 'The truth about facebook'. I look at the way we interact and the 'private details and connections' of our lives we place online. Perhaps, just perhaps this video is correct. It certainly made an impression on me and has led me to consider carefully what I make available for public. Social media and the Interent are as the video shows a great source of information for governments on peoples activities.

I believe that we are on the edge of a new revolution, change is coming (but I don’t know what) and social media, the Interent and digital technology has forever changed the world we live in. As I gaze to the future I cant help but see Ingrid Robertson’s argument of a cyborg world. The devices we use to connect, interact and live our life are getting samller but more intelligent, perhaps the future oof technology will see us with implants making our technological devices a built in part of our bodies