There is an ancient Chinese proverb, "One who asks a question is a fool for a moment. One who doesn't ask a question is a fool throughout his life". Although unable to source or credit anyone for that quote, I will appreciate its depth and elementary nature. I have a question, but that comes later.
Information is widely available for anyone with an internet connection and a knack for searching information online. Thanks to the web, global phenomena are much less fantastic or fantasy-like and far more real and personalized. With micro-bloggers live tweeting their every word and conferences being live streamed across millions of computers around the world, we are now closer to one another than ever before. If you are claustrophobic, you better step aside.
I won't be getting into the nitty gritty of how it all happened so fast, referencing a discussion my wife and I had this morning about Alvin Toffler who pioneered the term "Future Shock" in the 60's. Instead, I will skip ahead to where we suddenly end up and maybe infuse you with some perspective on how I interpret it all.
Like most normal upbringings, we all share the basic need to learn how to walk, dress, tie our laces, read, talk, and socialize. These are some of the many skills we develop to establish an identity that allows us to live a well-rounded life. In the 80's and 90's, when I was growing up, 20 years of developing these very skills became the keystone of my life, whether I knew it then or not. Everything was extremely stimulating, from failing an exam to my first date. My senses took in everything and the mere taste of life was so much more vivid back then. I'm preaching to the choir here because you have also experienced a similar sensation at one point or another during your first 20 years of life.
Then came the 21st century, that too right after perhaps the most innovative, inventive and dynamic century in the history of the world. In 2000, the world was supposed to come to a halt because the turn of the century didn't mean another decade before a marvelous invention would make its rounds from country to country. Instead, the same thing would happen on an almost real-time basis. The wheel was the most important invention to get an idea from one place to another. The famous men and women in history attributed with carrying important messages can be identified as the torchbearers of the first major social media revolution. We don't think about it that way because, well, what's social media without Facebook and Twitter, along with the means to use them such as iPads and cell phones. The literal translation takes over the fundamental one because it's not connected.
In my opinion, ten companies, or Titans, have significantly changed the way we live, love and die in the moden age:
- Microsoft for infusing an organized sense of efficacy with Windows and Office
- Google for introducing quick, relevant and simple search; now equivalent to self-education
- Apple for offering the sexiest, most futuristic technology present generations can dream of
- Paypal for making e-commerce possible, simple and feasible
- Ebay for turning your average home-based mom into a multi-million dollar entrepreneur
- YouTube for turning everyday singers into overnight celebrities, sans audition
- Facebook for reinventing what it means to be social while on opposite sides of the planet
- Twitter for being the 140 character vessel, propagated by revolutionary & visionary chatter
- Tech start-up gone global #9 for something it did to speed things up
- Tech start-up gone global #10 for something it, too, did to speed things up
It wasn't until 2004/5 that I began realizing that there was such a thing as social media and it's the buzz word everyone is raving about. I waited for an explosion in technology, like a mind-boggling global 4th of July fireworks experience. It was all around us, but I didn't see how consolidated it was becoming because it was all happening so fast.
The explosion happened, and almost all at once. The ripple or waterfall effect didn't take shape until the entire connected world was 'with it'. Thanks to the Iranians, celebrities and nonsensical chatter about breakfast and dinner that connected audiences began to split their offline experience with their online one. Don't agree? Well, just in the last decade, Facebook alone went from being the biggest distraction for employees to the most important communication tool for progressive businesses. Imagine how this made the Paparazzi feel?
Skipping forward a few more years and we are in the present, a time when, get this, a tech start-up with a handful of people can sell for the equivalent of US$ 1.00 saved by the entire US population over a period of 31 years, 259 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes and 40 seconds (credit: How Much Is A Billion Dollars? Dave Walker | http://youtu.be/um0guhNGPPM | 2008). That's a lot of money requiring a lot of people and a lot of time to add up. In the flash of an eye, and almost 2 weeks after being released on Android, Instagram is worth that much to Facebook. This is not about them, but about the brief moment in time 31+ years of dollar saving can be compressed into with a good invention and the means to access investors quickly.
We all know how big the social networking business is becoming; like the second coming of the internet / digital bubble that we thought ended before it really took off. But have we any idea where it's taking us and whether the pace of innovation we live in is something everyone is on board with? I know a few people in their 20's, 30's, 40's...all up to the 80's, who are not 'with it' and choose to step aside. Probably not because they are claustrophobic, but because there is so much happening so fast, it's hard to keep track of how 'my life is being improved by all this technology'. I wonder if we think they are missing out as much as they think we are missing out?
Twitter, to me, seemed like a great way to get the basic daily dose of information I need, without the lengthy reads. Facebook, a great way to stay connected with my friends in the US because it's so multi-media friendly. Orkut (before it was completely taken over by Brazil) was the curious playground where we discovered new people and new things because privacy wasn't a big deal, nor was it feared so much. MySpace I never really bought into so can't say that I've experienced its appeal. LinkedIn and others all offer their 'special something' as well.
Now, suddenly after my first 20 odd years on earth, and the age of information takes me on a rollercoaster ride that just gets faster and faster with each passing day. All this time, I thought that it was just me who felt time is moving faster; almost as though the hunchback moved to Greenwich and added speed to GMT's tea. I'm not. I met an 80 year old some years back in the desert, who had a face that told a thousand stories (cover image). His 'Future Shock' started during his lifetime. He traveled hundreds of kilometers on horseback when he was in his 20's, just to deliver messages. What took him years now takes less than a second. This transformation was made possible within his lifetime.
My future shock relegated my first twenty five years of life by the next few years, most of it occurring in just the last 3-4 years. The volume of communication and information being generated and the many channels they flood make me wonder how quickly all of this will catch up with everyone's reality. The hunchback just threw in some more speed in the World Clock's tea.
From the speed of (any) sound to the speed of click, we have entered the age of real-time. My question; is everyone onboard, ready and buckled up for what's next?
Zohare Haider is a tri-lingual communications professional, living and earning in Pakistan. He tweets as @JJBaybee