W9. Task e. Technophile student in 2020

e) Describe the experience of a fictional technophile student in 2020.

It is difficult to image what the world will be like in 2020, I assume their will be new technology I can’t even conceive at the moment. However, a part of me would like to see it as being not too far removed from today’s lifestyle. It makes me uncomfortable to think of a world where people no longer communicate face-to-face and everything is done electronically.

My prediction is that people will get sick of living electronically after it becomes even more ingrained into everyday life and a breaking point will occur. I predict a typical student will wake up, check their e-mails and Facebook, quickly check the news and their favourite blogs for updates as they wait for their first lecture to arrive on their computer. This will consist of an alert from the computer when a video file arrives, with a lecturer lecturing remotely, they will then transfer this over to their ipod. They will watch the file on the train or bus whilst on their way to actually meat their friends face-to-face as this is something I imagine will still occur. In this way I see technology as giving us increased flexibility, as opposed to the cyber-dystopian view that it will result in us all being social recluses, communicating exclusively through online medias.

Although technology has the potential to make meeting in “meet space” un-necessary, I think humans have a natural instinct to socialise, it is something which separates us from animals; we need physical interaction to feel fulfilled and I don’t think there will be a time when this doesn’t occur on a large scale. In general I think, or is it hope? That technology will enhance our social interactions as opposed to replacing them. I think technological advances will result in a greater amount of choice and ways to work which will result in more freedom to socialize rather than eliminating the need to.