At work this week, we were asked to try to incorporate emerging technologies into our current design. Many companies are exploring opportunities in this new area today.
Truth to be told, I have never enjoyed any emerging technologies myself just yet. I have Alexa at home and I also got a VR headset as a birthday present last year. Neither of these gadgets’ capabilities has wow-ed me. In fact, I tried to redesign the onboarding experience for Alexa last year just for fun. But still, I’m not a big fan.
After a quick google search, I found a useful blog by SapientRazorFish. In the blog, they document various industry insights, trends, and experiments about emerging experiences, particularly brought by VR. Upon skimming through them, I’m still not convinced somehow. Maybe it’s a self-selection bias, I stumbled upon this article on CNBC and the report clearly says that gamers aren’t buying the VR hype.
I personally am afraid of us moving into any sort of mixed reality world too quickly before setting boundaries and guidelines. As far as how much benefit I foresee such technologies can bring us, I am more concerned than delighted. I firmly believe in the value of human connection through face-to-face interactions. It is quite an irony that I spent more than 10 hours a day in front of a computer, which is probably why I value the in-person interaction even more now.
Anyhow, I want to be open-minded and see how such technology progresses as time goes on. Stay tuned.
X Project 52 