Rick Grimaldi - FLEX

On the other hand, this phenomenon contributes to a conflict-avoidant culture. Just think about the “ghosting” phenomenon on the rise today, when millennials signal their disinterest in a friend or new love interest by essentially ignoring the text. It contributes to social disconnection that is bleeding into the workforce. How ironic that so much “connectivity” in our modern era is actually leading to less connection in real life.

First there was America Online or AOL (Are you old enough to remember the sound of the modem connecting when you logged on?), which seeded our universal addiction to internet connectivity with the beginning of Yahoo's online chat forums and early email.

This was followed in the early 2000s by a bevy of websites ratcheting up our connectivity and taking social media from a nerdy techno-babbling hobby into mainstream daily communication for most of us. There was Friendster (for making friends, obviously), Classmates.com(for alumni), LinkedIn (for work contacts), and Myspace, the social precursor to Facebook.

Today, Facebook, which was originally concepted for networking among college students. has grown into a prolific and widely used social media network with 1.3 billion active users since it debuted in 2006. Then, of course, there is also Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and Google+ with their own unique value propositions for users. TikTok, a video-sharing network, has also recently joined the ranks.

This has all resulted in a barrage of emoji use by all. Cute icons that are angry, teary, anxious, and laughing are everywhere in our communications today.

What you may not be aware of, though, is that how we communicate—and whether we are comfortable with this type of common shorthand at work—determines the degree to which we remain relevant and valued at work.

Of all the ways the world is changing faster than ever, technology may be one of the most striking trends to consider. Aside from social media, it's had an oversized impact on virtually (pun intended) everything we do.

Just consider the rise of Apple. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs took to the stage and introduced the iPhone: Apple's vision for the modern cell phone. The device sported a large touchscreen, featured a simple, easy-to-navigate interface, and placed the internet and a camera into the pocket of consumers worldwide.

The industry was ripe for disruption because the market was dominated by “clam-shell” phones that were not optimized for the creation or consumption of media or browsing the internet. Although some manufacturers produced cell phones that could be used for these purposes, they relied on small screens, physical keyboards, unreliable trackballs, and low-resolution cameras. This all changed the moment Jobs walked up on the stage.

In the years following the iPhone's unveiling, the smartphone industry's response to Apple was nothing short of breathtaking. Smartphone manufacturers, including electronic behemoth Samsung, released a flurry of new devices to combat the iPhone's prowess . . . delivering innovative new features such as wireless charging, curved screens, mobile payment options, and improved photography. Other companies, such as Google, were also spurred to create their own smartphone operating systems and larger technological ecosystems.

In Ireland alone, where Apple's European headquarters is located, iPhone exports were responsible for one-quarter of the country's economic growth.

In South Korea, exports of semiconductors (a key component in smartphone production) accounted for 17.1% of all of the country's exports. As you can see, smartphone innovation has benefited far more than just consumers. Rather, it's been an engine of economic growth worldwide. And that's just one example of technology reshaping our world, including the world of work.

Recently, I had a conversation with an Uber driver—a ride-sharing concept that itself was brand new just a decade ago—about the impact of Google Maps on his job. He was animated as we discussed the “flying taxis” currently under development by companies like Tesla that are leading a revolution in alternative energy.

“Think about it,” he said. “I couldn't do this job with a paper map. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure Uber wouldn't even exist today without Google Maps.” He's speaking, of course, about the importance of GPS, the global positioning system. Thanks to satellites in space that ping our location, we navigate even the remotest areas on the planet with ease.

And this has given rise to the gig economy that is Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing services and changing the way consumers buy and companies sell goods. Is the gig economy a good thing or a bad thing? Does the flexibility that drivers can make their own part-time hours offset the depreciation on their car and lack of health benefits? We will examine this and other aspects of the gig economy in Chapter 4.

Way back in 1968, on the popular sci-fi television series Star Trek, Scotty leaned into his hand console and asked, “Computer, what is the distance between Earth and the Romulan galaxy?” It seemed fantastical at the time . . . that a computer could instantly deliver that information.

Was he speaking to Siri even back then? Now that students worldwide have been schooled via Zoom, it's easier than ever to imagine a student today working with a partner who is an actual computer, perhaps creating a virtual model of that Romulan galaxy and then sending it to a 3D printer to produce an immediate 3D model of it.

What was once science fiction is now just a Siri request away. Artificial intelligence is here. Indeed, 21st-century technology has become embedded in our daily lives as an indispensable part of how we work and play.

The proliferation of apps—everything from meditation and rain sounds while we sleep to Cloud-based task organizing and expense capturing—are available to us for instant download for just $3.99 (as long as you don't mind uploading your credit card data . . . a prospect that was unthinkable just a few decades ago).

That's made possible by the seamless interface with the two major mobile operating systems (Android and iOS) on which much of the world's population depends. 13

What's more, the Internet of Things has now arrived and is innovating rapidly. What is the Internet of Things, exactly? It's a term describing the billions of physical devices connected to the internet. Each device is equipped to sensors to tune into the ambient environment. And every single one is collecting and sharing your data.

The Internet of Things includes items as small as a tiny pill that can diagnose clinical information on patients who swallow it and as large as driverless cars and trucks with trailers. Think smart watches that record your daily steps and grade your fitness. Or the heat in your home that switches on automatically when you enter.

Technology is remaking our world dramatically with everything from brain implants restoring movement in paralyzed patients with spinal cord injuries to gene therapy 2.0, which is curing rare disorders and readying to take on rampant killers such as cancer and heart disease and deadly viruses such as COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in Europe and Asia, governments are using face-detecting systems to authorize payments and stop criminals in their tracks. 14 Stay tuned to see if this new trend catches on worldwide.

You'd have to be living under a rock in 2020 if you've missed the global discussion on our earth's changing climate. And, although many still want to debate whether these represent normal fluctuations in warming, as Swedish-born activist Greta Thunberg says, “Don't listen to me; listen to the scientists.”