Remember the times when people used to predict that technology would only make our lives better? Maybe now is the time to actually respond to any such assumptions with a statement that finally the world has witnessed “the worst of a decade in tech”.
Honestly, doing the analysis of what had gone wrong in the past decade did not only exhaust me, but it was also hard to summarize all of them into highlights, considering the fact that almost everything invented in the time period faced challenges or flopped, one way or the other. Nevertheless, I still managed to pick some of the major worst things - in no particular order to show you how the tech giants and its followers are now mingled into unnecessary trouble, which no one had ever thought of, before this decade.
While the situation is becoming more alarming, as US has already billions of robocalls, there is still no way to stop them completely. Of course, there have been proposed solutions and techniques but none of that has ever stopped the spammer to reach to your voicemail with a message.
Robocalls are just too cheap. If you Google it up then people offer to make them happen for you at a penny per minute and you know that people fall for them more often than not, hence making the operations more profitable.
What is our current defense mechanism to this? To not pick up the phone and blocked spoof numbers.
Besides that we have also seen the Takata airbags being blamed for 23 deaths and hundreds of injuries due to its inflators fracturing and hurling shrapnel into drivers and passengers. There is now a death caused by autonomous vehicle and spikes in injuries from e-bikes and e-scooters too.
The results will eventually cause more disadvantage to the users as more entertainment platforms are adopting the same strategy which means that there will soon be a battle for content and you will have to subscribe to a lot of major services for your favorite shows, films, music or even games with Apple Arcade.
A prime example of the disadvantage is also Disney taking out its content from all other platforms for Disney +.
We find facial recognition, smart home assistants and video doorbells convenient and secure without ever realizing that we are trading our privacy with all the gadgets in the form of home DNA tests, silly data harvesting quizzes etc. As a result, Google and Amazon have more information about you (including what you talk about in front of Alexa or Google Home) than the government can ever collect, which of course they can use to manipulate you for their business needs.
The threat is actually so significant that even if you are willing to give up on your privacy, those who live with you still face the risk of privacy breach. Yes, we are talking about Facebook having all your details even if you are not on the site and God forbid if you are then Cambridge Analytica harvest your data without your permission for political gains.
The worst thing? We have come down to a point where such data breaches feel like normal.
However that battle had a straight impact on consumers. People have mixed arguments about the $1,000 smartphone, but this is all due to the fact that both the companies have never really figured out how to value their design patterns. In return, they trusted lawyers who thought that it is okay to sell a flagship smartphone for $1,000 in this economy.
As hopefully, you would have read all the problems and might even have this thought of what should you do next to escape from this trouble? The answer to that is unfortunately no one really knows. If you can resolve the problem on your own, that would be great and to be fair, that is what the world needs right now. If not, then we will have to wait and see technology making our lives better all over again. That being said, there are still a lot of positives to take from this decade which we are going to reveal next.
Read next: These are the Biggest Data Breaches in the past 15 years
Honestly, doing the analysis of what had gone wrong in the past decade did not only exhaust me, but it was also hard to summarize all of them into highlights, considering the fact that almost everything invented in the time period faced challenges or flopped, one way or the other. Nevertheless, I still managed to pick some of the major worst things - in no particular order to show you how the tech giants and its followers are now mingled into unnecessary trouble, which no one had ever thought of, before this decade.
1. Gosh! That’s A Scam Call Again
Although law-makers have passed a strict law to stop robocalls and eventually carriers are also trying to track such calls down with the help of FCC and FTC, but do you know that by the end of this decade people would actually be receiving more spam calls than the real ones?While the situation is becoming more alarming, as US has already billions of robocalls, there is still no way to stop them completely. Of course, there have been proposed solutions and techniques but none of that has ever stopped the spammer to reach to your voicemail with a message.
Robocalls are just too cheap. If you Google it up then people offer to make them happen for you at a penny per minute and you know that people fall for them more often than not, hence making the operations more profitable.
What is our current defense mechanism to this? To not pick up the phone and blocked spoof numbers.
2. Social Media Filled With Hate
Gone are those days when social media was actually considered to be a useful place to connect with the world in a better way. While we saw the platforms empowering people and how it brought revolution and resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, social media is also bringing out the worst in people. We now live in an age where we see more hatred than love and that is now being glorified with the help of social media.
3. Flameouts Everywhere!
Going back to ground dwelling hover boards and the ever so famous flammable Note 7, a lot of tech gadgets caught fire. The reason behind this was lithium ion batteries as alkali metals when come in contact with oxygen or water, they become fun-tastic. Some honorary mentions in the list of flame-outs also include e-cigarettes, vape pens or Tesla solar panels.4. There Is Danger In Moving
Well, as there is no doubt in the fact that travelling in an airplane always had that risk of any kind of failure happening, but it is still considered to be bad luck or very rare. But in the past year, 346 people died in two crashes of Boeing’s new 737 Max, in a five month span. Although the company has no not officially released any report related to crashes as of yet, but sources claim that the flight’s control system received erroneous data from faulty sensors.Besides that we have also seen the Takata airbags being blamed for 23 deaths and hundreds of injuries due to its inflators fracturing and hurling shrapnel into drivers and passengers. There is now a death caused by autonomous vehicle and spikes in injuries from e-bikes and e-scooters too.
5. Seflies From Stupid and Selfish
Also termed as killfies, more than 250 people have lost their lives, just for the sake of taking the “amazing selfie”. We see people flying planes, posing near wild animals, posing with guns, standing in front of speeding trains, ignoring the undertow and much more. While this all come with a risk the worst form of selfies have been of ruining landscapes, trampling tulips, killing animals, Newzealand massacre,shattering monuments, destroying art and more in pursuit of solipsistic satisfaction.6. Subscriptions Becoming The Future
To me these subscription services sound a lot more like how a few years back we used to pay little money for physical objects in the name of Book of the Month Club and Netflix even shipping DVDs. But Netflix played it smart and took the deal to the online world where they are now getting steady income, customer lock-in and the wealth of personal data.
The results will eventually cause more disadvantage to the users as more entertainment platforms are adopting the same strategy which means that there will soon be a battle for content and you will have to subscribe to a lot of major services for your favorite shows, films, music or even games with Apple Arcade.
A prime example of the disadvantage is also Disney taking out its content from all other platforms for Disney +.
7. Cyber Weapons on the Rise
Stuxnet wormed back in 2010 and caused a cyber attack for the first time by taking out a power grid in 2015. We saw WannaCry and Petya encrypting the contents of a system to a point that you can’t access them without ponying up a ransom and how the tactic went wide in 2017 by involving local governments and cities hostage.8. Privacy Breach of All Sorts
It all started with traditional dystopian government eyes and ears everywhere system - the omnipresent CCTV network in the UK since 2013 and the surveillance cameras which are now presumably better spies with the inclusion of AI.We find facial recognition, smart home assistants and video doorbells convenient and secure without ever realizing that we are trading our privacy with all the gadgets in the form of home DNA tests, silly data harvesting quizzes etc. As a result, Google and Amazon have more information about you (including what you talk about in front of Alexa or Google Home) than the government can ever collect, which of course they can use to manipulate you for their business needs.
The threat is actually so significant that even if you are willing to give up on your privacy, those who live with you still face the risk of privacy breach. Yes, we are talking about Facebook having all your details even if you are not on the site and God forbid if you are then Cambridge Analytica harvest your data without your permission for political gains.
The worst thing? We have come down to a point where such data breaches feel like normal.
9. Courts Are Always Dealing With Tech Lawsuits
Starting from the Apple vs Samsung Lawsuit that went on for 7 years and which of course majority wouldn’t bother to remember today, both of the smartphone giants reached a settlement in June 2018 with reports that Samsung paid Apple an estimated amount of $1 billion.However that battle had a straight impact on consumers. People have mixed arguments about the $1,000 smartphone, but this is all due to the fact that both the companies have never really figured out how to value their design patterns. In return, they trusted lawyers who thought that it is okay to sell a flagship smartphone for $1,000 in this economy.
As hopefully, you would have read all the problems and might even have this thought of what should you do next to escape from this trouble? The answer to that is unfortunately no one really knows. If you can resolve the problem on your own, that would be great and to be fair, that is what the world needs right now. If not, then we will have to wait and see technology making our lives better all over again. That being said, there are still a lot of positives to take from this decade which we are going to reveal next.
Read next: These are the Biggest Data Breaches in the past 15 years
