Social interaction is the way people relate with one another. Through history, mankind has developed and improved different kinds of technologies that have had a crucial influence on social interaction and human communications. Let’s make a quick overview to remember some key points of our history regarding social interactions and technology. 2. A very long time ago before written word existed there were cave paintings & storytelling.
Society is on the cusp of a social revolution, we are at a point in history where new social realities are being created by technology and those realities mean for the individual and society. We are shifting from personal human interactions to virtual interactions through social media. From Facebook to Twitter, Instant Message to Skype, iPhones to iPods, technologies of communication have already started running the societies in the developed countries and within ten years it will engulf the whole world.
There can be no doubt about it, as can be gauged by the rapid advancements in the technologies that are being made. Ten years from now technology will be making our world much more small and will be getting us closer, informing us faster than ever before not only in communications but also in all aspect of our life, medicine, transportation, and engineering just to mention few. 2. Social relationships have already been impacted greatly from rapid advances in technology.
Technology has strengthened social relationships because it provides a fast and reliable avenue for people to communicate with those five miles and five hundred miles away. People are more and more connected with each other through new technologies and this trend will certainly not slow down. Ten years hence people will rely on technologies such as the internet for every realm of their lives. New technologies such as the universal translator and the hologram are likely to be developed in the next decade.
These devices will allow us to communicate more effectively with more people around the world. 3. In the next decade, social interactions through the devices will intensify as the importance of these relationships will increase. Social networks will be an important source of added value. Relationships will become deeper and more important as people will have an easy access to memories. Selection based on reputation will influence social interactions deeply. More time will be available to work on our relationships and build our networks.
Our networks will be much wider and diverse. Social interactions will be almost permanent. Permanent connection to the internet is almost a reality. New technologies that exploit this like the Google glasses will influence our relationships as we will be able to share moments of our lives as we live them. This continuous access to the cloud means we will be able to remember many more relationship events. In other words, we would never forget the name of someone we meet, even someone we briefly meet.
Enhanced realities will dramatically change our relationships and social interactions as our reputation will stick to us and appear to other people through enhanced reality devices which will have implications on our ethics and values. 2 4. Online social networks and their use will evolve, links between networks will intensify and people will use them to refine their relationship networks in a way that allows them to create more complex and wider connections. Online social networks will become more effective in helping people create added value (e. g. ork together or find specific expertise) and find satisfaction e. g. identify the right product or the right destination right job buy right product, obtain tenders etc. As medicine improves, people will live longer. Doctors will be able to create organs and prescribe medication based on the genome of the virus assaulting one’s body. Surgeries will be carried out with the aid of robots and lasers that too with the help of satellite communication. A longer life perception will definitely have an impact on our relationships as they could last much longer.
Virtual humans or robots will be added to the workforce. This should free the human race from laborious tasks that take a lot of time. Hence, more time will be available to relationships personal or professional. People will be able to develop and extend their network much further. 5. With the proliferation of technologies that are able to overcome the obstacles of time and space some technological advances will cause people to be distracted, overly stressed, and increasingly isolated.
Many people may be involved in an abundant number of relationships through technology, but sometimes the quantity of these associations may leave people feeling qualitatively empty. Obviously, technology will have a profound impact on what it means to be social. 6. Internet Addiction (IAD) will however be the most common addiction ten years hence that will threaten to overwhelm the addict’s normal life” as it is a very serious behavioral addiction. Internet safety will be a major concern.
With children and teens being so connected, it will be extremely easy for strangers to invade homes through the computer and get personal information and cyber crimes will increase many folds. 7. Humans will however always be humans and technology will never be able to substitute the need for physical interaction that we have. Humans will always meet in person and technology will allow us to intensify our relationships with memories, longer lives, more time and information.
