Trust & Technology

What is our relationship with technology? When was the first time, we used technology in our life?

I first used it when I was seven or eight. We had Nintendo and I remember feeling so much joy playing Tetris and Mario with my cousins - it didn’t matter that it only had nine levels. I can’t remember any interactions with technology before that. We went outside a lot. Then came Encarta and feeling so excited to search in an encyclopedia on my desktop computer. I loved watching the videos.

And it continued with getting access to the internet. Chatting constantly with friends on ICQ. Posting pictures on MySpace and even trying out Netmeeting. Then it just kept growing and growing. Until today there’s a new world on the other side that has its’ own currency. I rely on it to keep track of events, documents, photos and it remembers phone numbers (when I used to be able to remember them in my head). I have acted in ways that I trust this technology.

For that reason, it’s probably why I never stopped to reflect on how it’s shaped my life. How much it’s moved my life in directions that would probably never happened in the past. The first three positions in my career were directly though LinkedIn. Technology has also allowed me to live life quickly. I wonder if it’s too quick? I wonder if it’s made things rather too easy for me that I’m feeling easily defeated while going through challenges. Maybe there is an exciting experience to be had if I just walked to the library and searched for books I needed. Maybe I would uncover something else instead of always just looking online for the only answer I have in my head.

I’m also curious on how our relationship with technology will be like in the next year or two years. How all of this growth with things like robotics, big data and artificial intelligence… How will we all continue to coexist with all this change and growth? What would trust mean between us and technology? How will it all be managed and regulated? I guess we’ll have to see :)!

Wynne