As I ponder where I see the internet heading in five years, I find myself caught between being excited and terrified at the possibilities.
I think most of society is pretty ignorant to where all this technology is taking us. On the one hand, it’s amazing how we can do so many things online now. Banking, shopping, socializing, marketing, and so much more can be done without taking one step out of our home or office. With so many users on networks like Facebook connect and Twitter, it’s obvious that people like to expose themselves to the virtual world and share quite a bit of personal information. But what is really happening when we update our status, post a tweet, or even plug in an address on our Garmin? Where does our information go? Who is keeping track of it? Are we really that naïve to think it’s only going to our “friends”, or that our connections are truly “secure”?
People jokingly say “Big Brother” is watching, or comment on how the government is keeping track of us. But apparently that is closer to the truth than most people realize. It’s not just some farfetched paranoid delusion, and as we progress with technological advancements it appears our lives become less and less private.
In five years a lot can happen, and probably will in relation to the Internet. But maybe not quite as much as I fear. It’s hard for me to grasp how the virtual world works sometimes, especially with the concept of “cloud computing” or “reality mining”. So I question what it really all means. How close are we to that happening I have to wonder. With my greenness in knowledge about computer technology, I’m not sure how concerned I should really be. With my initial readings about those concepts, I automatically had a minor freak out of paranoia. But then I remind myself that articles sometimes inflate and make urgent the topic of discussion.
I think too, how there is still a chunk of people who resist the Internet, and that there will probably always be a part of society that doesn’t follow the flow of what everyone else seems to be doing. This makes me wonder how that will affect what the Internet is capable of in terms of society. For instance, I still know people who refuse to do their banking online, would never make a purchase on amazon.com, and who insist on paying cash at the gas station. You would think that people like that cannot be tracked or included into the Internet’s “cloud” of information that is available to the public. However, I’m sure one way or another it’s possible. Especially if they have a cell phone or drive in a new car with Onstar, or even have DirecTV.
With all of this up and coming Internet technology, I see one thing for sure. Privacy issues. With the virtual world becoming so huge, and the fact that our personal information is out there in so many forms, it’s inevitable there will be problems with keeping it all even remotely safe. And with every security feature created, there will likely be twice as many hackers to break it.
When I’m not worried or paranoid of being tracked, I do enjoy the perks of the Internet. Social networking isn’t limited to Facebook or MySpace. Recently I was invited into a social site created by my personal trainer, http://figurecompetitor.ning.com/. It’s designed for people interested in fitness and training for physique competitions. It’s like a mini-Facebook, with a focus. I thought it was so neat that anyone can just start a social network so easily. I can see how that would be helpful in businesses among employees and whatnot. I see applications like that replacing corporate email accounts eventually. It would be easier to communicate in a group, create virtual discussions where everyone can see posts by everyone else. It could also be used for family communication. The possibilities are quite endless, and social networking is just one aspect.
So, what will the Internet be like in five years? Probably more of what we’re starting to see now, like more social networking sites, more virtual storage sites like MobileMe, and more opportunity to connect with like-minded people across the globe. Businesses will probably have more options with IT, having a bigger variety of servers catering to their specific business need. I don’t think we’ll see a majority of what “cloud computing” can offer until closer to 10 years. While the concepts of it are interesting and alluring, I think it will take a while for the masses to trust it and embrace it. What we won’t actually see happening is probably more tracking and research being done with reality mining. THAT, I think, is a rather scary concept.
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