Future!

Future!

Future!

It’s the Future!

2022

Remember the Good Old Days?

You didn’t have time to stand in line and vote.

You didn’t have time to make that annual doctor appointment.

You didn’t have time to get to the bank before it closes. And, you were tired of going to the ATM for

cash or worrying about someone stealing your social security or pin numbers.

You didn’t have time to send in that application to be on your favorite game show. You would not be able to get off from work anyway.

It’s 2022, just 9 years from 2013, and

You have plenty of time - Thanks to all of the new

technology advancements.

Well, You have time now!

Out of fear and

out of time, you

waited too long

to go to the

doctor before

they found that

gallstone.

Now, the personalized medical

chip that is implanted along

brain impulse nerves lets your

doctor know and you know

when to seek medical

treatment. The chip is

downloaded with personal and

family medical history and

current physical statistics. It

communicates to a medical

staff any changes in metabolic

levels, blood pressure or sudden

instances of pain above certain

thresholds. You will be alerted

through your smartphone of

regularly monitored medical

vital statistics if there is cause

for concern.

You have to watch over you shoulder in the malls and stores. You try to make sure your bills are paid on time. Some debtors want checks, others want online payments that require pin numbers, social security numbers and a lot of personal identification information. They talked about making the penny obsolete.

You love to shop.

All cash is now obsolete. The only identification that you need now is you – your eye “print”.

Through mild laser technology, your personal identification has been

downloaded into the federal system. Just as the spy

movies showed people being admitted through high security

areas with them peering into the security beam,

your print becomes your EYEDENTIFICATION. No one has

your eyes but you. You can use your print to activate the internet

accounts; activate your smart phone accounts and authorize payments.

YOU are your ideal communication device. “eyedentification”

And the last good news about this – your “eyedentification” information can be downloaded to your smartphone. Now you can use your smartphone just like “old times”. The security code to your smartphone prevents anyone from stealing the phone and thinking they can use it to steal from your bank account.

VOTINGRushing to the polls to keep from being late to work - standing in long lines after work – trying to get your absentee ballot in the mail on time - Months of campaign rhetoric took its toll on you and some others. The voting process became a time hostage process instead of the freedom it is supposed to bring.

You now can register, preview campaign speeches, and Vote!

Again, the eyedentification process communicates your identity.

Interactive EntertainmentNow that you have taken care of your bills; set up your managed health care, and voted, why not enjoy your favorite game show, “Wheel of Fortune”. You have been alerted by your smartphone that you will be playing on television. You are the virtual player and everyone can see you on television. Through a controller attached to your smartphone, you get an opportunity to “spin that wheel” with the other contestants on stage.

Communication technology of the past such as the telephone, radio and telegraph provided the foundation to advance and impact communication networks at all levels of human interchanges – personal (emails, faxes, social networks), commerce (banking/business), medical (record exchange and health monitoring), and entertainment.From the standpoint of the average person who still may not understand or recognize such influences, I selected areas of significant meaning to the portion of the population that seeks needs gratification coupled with purpose among communication technology. The theoretical areas of the most influence in this presentation of selected technology include:

• Critical Mass Theory: There must be a sufficient amount of adopters of an innovation to be sustained and to lead to other growth and innovations. Social factors are involved.

• Uses and Gratification Theory: The active audience links satisfaction to the goal of the media. Value judgments are made based upon satisfaction and interests. The use of the smart phone to actively enjoy a favorite televised show as an active participation links audience to the goals of three sources: smartphone – television – game controllers.

• Social Learning Theory: Basic elements of dynamics of interchange or reciprocation are personal factors, environmental influences and subsequent behavior

• The Principal of Relative Constancy: Basic concept that things or innovations are not necessarily eliminated but demand adjustments are redirected.

• I found these three to be the most connected to the concepts of future communication practices in this presentation in that all involve some level of adoption by many people through choice, necessity and societal influences. Funding for shopping was not eliminated. The innovation for the way funding was exchanged provided an adjustment in behavior. Fingerprints are still forms of identification. However, they have been known to be copied. Unless someone is so desperate as to remove someone’s eye, the “eye print” should not be able to be duplicated without active knowledge of the person.

• Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations: Through various networks of communication within a social system, members are made aware of innovations (usually media and associates), forming opinions before making decisions toward using the new concept. Depending upon the experience, they confirm and continue.

• Media dependency Theory: Society – media – audience – effects: selective exposure and message effects but with underlying variables such as government authority.

These theories were demonstrated in practice with the adaptation of the new voting system which no doubt will be part of media information exchanges.

REFERENCESOrr, G. Review, Diffusion of Innovations, by Everett Rogers (1995). March 18, 2003. http://www.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm

Uses and Gratification Theory. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 16, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications_theory

Critical Mass Theory. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 16, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass_(sociodynamics).

Swan, F. Have You Ever Heard About the Principal of Relative Constancy? March 14, 2013. http://frederickswanston.com/2013/03/have-you-ever-heard-about-the-principle-of-relative-constancy/ 

REFERENCES (CONTINUED)

Rethinking the Theory of the Long Tail Theory: How to Define ‘Hits’ and ‘Niches’. Knowledge@Wharton. (2009). http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2338 Heimann, D. Social Learning Theory or Social Cognitive Theory. (May 29, 2003). The Communication Initiative Network. http://www.comminit.com/?q=global/node/27159 Media System Dependency Theory. Wikipedia. Retrieved on April 25, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_systems_dependency_theory