Piers Fawkes/ Founder and editor-in-chief of PSFK/President of PSFK Labs
You just launched the ‘future of connected life report’ – where do we go?
Piers Fawkes:The always on-world provides us with a tremendous amount of positive experiences that we didn’t have before – but with every advance, there also seems to be a negative reaction. Technology seems to be creating as many challenges to our lives as opportunities: we get distracted, we feel overwhelmed, we feel disconnected from the human experience, we fear that we are missing out!! The Future of Connected Life report describes a path to help us all thrive in this new era.
Live, work, play – better – what helps us to do so?
Piers Fawkes: Our report explores an emerging mix of digital and analog products and services that are bringing added efficiencies, equilibrium and opportunities to progress into people’s lifestyles as they transition between different phases in their days.
We identified three themes that are of upcoming relevance for people in their daily lives. The Effectiveness & Productivity part explores how on-demand services and creative life hacks are helping people offload key responsibilities and make better use of their time. In ‘Balance & Awareness’ we look at how people are achieving better peace of mind by living synchronously in the cloud, while finding time to unplug from their devices at key moments. Finally in the Growth & Personal Development section, we examine an ever-expanding range of platforms and services that are changing how people achieve their goals. We see this report serving as a guide for companies to respond to the changing needs of their customers so that we can all lead more happy, healthy, and productive lives.
What are the biggest changes in our daily lives we will encounter within the next ten years?
Piers Fawkes:I think we’ll be challenged around the notions of work and what a job specifically is. We’ll question what a place of work is and what it should be. We may even challenge the concept of what truly is a home. An immense freedom will challenge the norms that have been established since WW2.
What new jobs will evolve from the connected live? (apart from data scientists and statisticians)
Piers Fawkes:I think micro-staffing is the big theme. Getting hired for small amounts of time for specific expertise or skills. Think Uber – lots of people driving around in their cars until one of them gets booked. We see a lot of this happening in education and even in health. The question is, will we be able to maintain our income levels with a new way of working.
What jobs will cease to exist?
Piers Fawkes: I just think the idea of a full time job will be challenged. Lots of the stuff we do will remain.In fact, the hyper connected market allows for jobs that have become extinct to reappear and feed a distributed audience. Anyone want a blacksmith???
What is your vision?
Piers Fawkes: With this report, the team at PSFK have gathered the newest products, services and technologies from the marketplace that are helping people become their best selves in the midst of these radical changes. The resulting 12 trends tell the story of how we can navigate our increasingly complex relationships with our devices and ultimately benefit from them. My vision – or hope – is that this report will to provide brands, organizations and culture-makers with inspiration to cater to the competing desires and evolving needs of the connected consumer of tomorrow.
About
Piers Fawkes is the Founder & President of PSFK. For almost a decade, he has steered the content direction of the daily news site PSFK.com so that today it is read by 1.5million creative professionals. In that time, he has driven thought leadership into health, retail, marketing and other key sectors with a series of provocative ‘Future Of’ reports and the hosting of insightful events where he brings to stage the next generation of change makers. With his team at PSFK Labs, Piers has provided product and marketing strategy advice to the world’s leading brands. Piers is often called to give his point of view through media publications (BBC, Bloomberg, New York Times, Wall Street Journal).
