Our world is changing. Quicker than even we, the young generations, can percieve. We have in our short lifetime gone from a isolated “big” world, to a connected “small” one. Everything is connected to everything. I can type something on twitter, and it is visible to thousands of people instantly. I can post a video on youtube and anyone, anywhere, can watch it whenever they want to. But is this changing us as well?
Recent studies suggest so, and there are a number of examples; a 15 year old today has produced more written material than most people in their 50’s have in their whole life. Our language isn’t dying, it’s evolving. American researchers found that the number of words in regular use and the clarity of language for people leaving high school have gone up dramatically for the past 10 years. There is more: the average teen today will have between 7 and 9 jobs before his 60th birthday. The average adult born before 1975 will have between 3 and 4. Modern people read roughly 3000 pages of textbooks each year; and 12.000 pages of e-mail.
The growing numbers relating to the collective information of the human race is staggering: each year, we upload more video hours to youtube than the complete production of CNN, NBC and the BBC put together. The total number of tweets to date is over 1 billion. If Facebook was a country, it would be the world’s 5th largest. When the idea of computers first took root, it was thought that one supercomputer on each continent would do; today, there are over 2 billion computer devices in the world. It has been suggested, that by the end of 2020, e-mail will no longer be the preferred method of communication; social networks and IM will have taken over completely. In 2015, the handheld device will be the primary accesspoint for over 50% of Internet users worldwide.
We have begun the transition to a new world. When everyone is a reporter, a cameraman and a photographer. When news reach the whole world in an instant and everyone can access anything, what does this do for democracy?
We are changing the very nature of our world. A new order, a new power, with the people, no longer restriced by borders, but united by cause. How will our leaders adapt to this? And; is this the start of the glorious new united world? Will this be the end of countries and eventually, war? In a world where everything is virtual, the warrior is outdated. Will it perhaps be, that the ones who will give us peace at last, will not be our leaders, our diplomats or our politicans, but ourselves?
sHaPe the world