Our mobile phones have become so entwined in our lives it’s hard to imagine life without them

As long ago as 1965, American engineer Gordon Moore made a prediction that would subsequently be known as Moore’s Law. Simply put, it states that the performance of computers and digital technology will increase by 40% a year, or in other words double every two years. For a hypothesis made before the huge shift towards digitisation it held true remarkably well. It has been slightly amended in the last couple of years but even so, it still gives an indication of just how breath-taking the advance in technology has been. And of course, going hand in hand with that is the impact that technology has in our lives. All of our lives and every single part of them.

We will come to how it affects us individually shortly, but as a nation, technology is an incredibly important part of the economy. Annually it contributes around £150 billion, which equates to more than 7% of the economy. In terms of VC investment only the US and China raise more funds. Today technology is so pervasive that it is hard to think of life without it, and if you are luckily enough to be in your early twenties or younger, you have never known a time when it wasn’t such an integral part of our lives. Here we look at three areas in which it continues to give us all more and more opportunities to live those lives to a fuller and richer extent.

At Play

VR will take gaming to the next level

Gaming is one of the first things that springs to mind when you think of us interacting with a computer or mobile device. The sector and its output is barely recognizable from the days of Pac Man and Space Invaders and the experiences are only getting more and more immersive. VR is going to be the next big thing, further blurring the lines between reality and the gaming experience. There is more to it than that though.

Playing online allows people to experience and take part in games that normally – for a variety of reasons – they would not otherwise do. Casinos for example, and poker tables specifically, can be an intimidating prospect if you are not a confident player, or have never played it before. There is also the thorny issue of legislation. In many parts of Asia, and in several states of the US it is only recently that people have been allowed to play casino games online. It was not possible to play poker online in Pennsylvania until 2017 for example, and it was an awareness that technology is every bit as valid as so-called traditional methods that helped drive that.

At Work

The majority of us would have been forced to work from home over the last 18 months, some may still be doing so. Yes, it was tricky, balancing a job, kids, trying to find a free space, a quiet area etc etc, but all of that would just not have been possible even five years ago. Zoom became every bit a part of our lives and vocabulary as Facebook and the BBC. To such an extent that it may actually change the way all of us work in the future, and that future is now, not some transient time period on the distant horizon. That in turn could very well influence where we can and choose to live, which will impact the traditional city centres. Everything is linked and it is technology that pushes that first domino.

Our Health

Whether you have an app on your phone, a Fitbit or one of the myriad of other health applications it has never been easier to monitor your health and wellbeing, and then do something about it. Your heart rate, blood oxygen saturation levels, sleep patterns, stress levels, all can now be monitored, documented – and stressed over – in the comfort of your own home. You can then use the same device to devise a fitness regime and track your progress. At the other end of the scale, the rise of Peloton, its spin offs, and competitors has made the home gym suddenly a lot more easily achieved, similar in many ways to the online casinos we discussed earlier.

Change is happening at such a rate it is harder than ever to predict what the future will look like. One thing we can be sure of though, is that technology will be at the forefront of that change. The only question that remains is, when will we get those hoverboards and flying cars?