SHIFT

Technology Trust

INTRODUCTION

Technology is becoming our 24/7 companion. Imagine the concept of the latest revolutionary technology 500 years ago or perhaps 1000.

Let’s keep going back to the ‘love at first sight’ when man first discovered technology. Throughout centuries, despite all the differences between the world of technology and the world of criticism against technology – we are finally moving towards a union. Every inch of our lives is touched by that saviour, friend and lover. It is a journey that started with infatuation, spiralled to a whirlwind love affair and then became an immediate wedding due to the pandemic. We were finally married to technology in whom our trust is now becoming absolute. From the time we wake up we are so much connected with this companion that sometimes we stop, pause and reflect on how we grew and evolved together. Remember the days of Dial-up Modem and owning a 1 GB External HD meant you are someone to look up to? Remember how Nokia advertised their phones that had a torchlight or screens that would cast light on something or someone? It seems like yesterday! What is the storage system you use today for any file? Did you adjust yourself to technology or was it the other way round?

Consider the most day to day activities of groceries or once in a while travelling to your favourite destination. From standing in a line for hours we have moved to touchscreen and matter of seconds to get things done. We cannot move into a sphere where we are unconscious about what is happening around us. 2020 showed us what our simple trust in technology can do – making meeting people and working from home a reality. This is the simplest and most groundbreaking thing it did at a global level, it became a norm. Consider yourself travelling back in time and you are a very important European merchant and the Black Plague has hit all across the land. The very existence of your family provisions depends on the next deal you will sign in Venice with a noble. Alas! your fate now hangs in balance. But fast forward to 2020, it doesn’t – you have Zoom, you have QR Codes, a scanner, email and what not.

The lines between the organic tangible world and the digital world by now are so blurred, that you can hardly distinguish one from the other. Consider virtual trial rooms or the Decathlon App, for instance, download it, scan each item and skip the cash counter altogether. It’s all online. Allen Solly nowadays is calling up its customers, taking orders and delivering home directly.