This presentation is in response to the IE admissions essay question: How do you imagine social interaction within 10 years, taking into consideration the impact of technology on human relations?

1. and the impact of technology on human relations
SOCIAL INTERACTION
BY DEEPU NAIR
THE FUTURE OF

2. Social
Interaction
Exchange
Cooperation
CompetitionCoercion
Conflict
• Goods
• Services
• Information
• Friendships
• Education
• Work
• Business
• Sports
• Politics
• Social Movements
• Wars
• Crime
Human Relations

3. Social
Interaction
Exchange
Cooperation
CompetitionCoercion
Conflict
Social Interaction

4. Social
Interaction
Exchange
Cooperation
CompetitionCoercion
Conflict
Social Interaction
Social Interaction involves the processes
by which people act and react in relation
to others, and is therefore the sum of the
varied human relations that happen at the
individual level

5. Communication
TransportationInformation
Technology
DEFINITION
The application of scientific
knowledge for practical
purposes
In the future, human
relationships will be radically
changed by 3 main types of
technologies…

6. Communication
TransportationInformation
Technology
Social media is found at the
confluence of the three
technologies.
It also is the driving force in
the way that technology will
affect human relations, and
hence social interaction, in
10 years’ time.

7. Social
Interaction
Exchange
Cooperation
CompetitionCoercion
Conflict
In the future, these key technologies
will affect social interaction by
radically changing the way we
engage in these activities…
Technology

8. Over the next 10 years, human relations - and
therefore social interaction – will have to
increasingly confront 4 new realities as a result of
technological progress
Social
Interaction
‘Always On”
Diminished
Privacy
New
Boundaries
Changing
Language
The Effects

9. “Always On”

10. Human relations will evolve given that human beings are ‘Always
On’ . We are constantly connected to technological devices and
social media: endless multitasking
This will be exacerbated by the roll-out of wearable technology
(like Google glasses) and other innovations in the field of
ubiquitous computing
• Fabric computing
• Battery miniaturization
• Expanding network capacities

11. Ping - a social networking
garment which connects the
wearer to their social media
accounts, wirelessly. By
performing natural gestures
— lifting the hood – the
wearer can interact with
friends on their social media
accounts
case in point

12. David Riesman’s notion of the lonely crowd
- people ‘surrounded’ by others, yet quintessentially isolated
For many users of mobile technology, people around them are
equivalent to elevator music
While technology provides opportunities for people to
communicate to one another it also gives us tools for building
virtual walls
Constant multi tasking also diminishes the focus we can pay to
any single activity, including human relations
consequences

13. New technologies will allow us unprecedented social
connection, bringing many benefits
Yet it may cause us to spread ourselves too thin, and diminish
the the quality of our social interaction
in 10 years’ time

14. Privacy

15. Probably… clothes, body language, manners, etc
Your first day in class: What determines who you choose to interact
with?
case in point

16. Now…
Imagine you had access to immediate information about your new
classmates thanks to your latest pair of Google glasses.
How would that information affect your decision on who to
interact with?
case in point

17. Bad credit RatingPresident of the Film
Club
Mediocre GPA
On Financial
Assistance

18. Erving Goffman’s idea of the public face – the carefully crafted
image people display to others
The increasing (and instantaneous) access to information that
people would otherwise guard - will lead to a public face that is
less crafted and more realistic
consequences

19. Human relations will acquire a high degree of openness as it will
be difficult to separate private interactions from public
interactions (public face). People will be more comfortable with
transparency in their relationships
Society will change its perception of acceptable behavior, with a
greater tolerance for ‘loss of face’ (especially in Asia)
Will affect Coercion relations as well
-Governments will (have to) be more transparent
Competition in business and politics will focus on uncovering
private information – it will become an industry of its own
in 10 years’ time

21. Boundaries

22. Human relations are governed by boundaries
- e.g. Competition in business is constrained by rules
Technology will lead to empowerment of the disenfranchised/changing
of the rules
- Major implications for competition, coercion and conflict

23. Greenpeace’s viral video campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJjPRwExO8&feature=share&list=PL552425FDB59C1C05
Forced Nestle, Unilever and other large MNCs to stop buying palm oil
from certain firms in Indonesia – by marshaling public opinion
case in point

24. Printing press
– Storming of the Bastille
consequences
Social media
– Tahir square
=

25. The power dynamics of social interaction will change as public
opinion becomes a more valuable commodity
New technologies will also enable smaller actors to organize
and mobilize support against traditionally ‘powerful
actors’/authority.
There will be a growing importance accorded to community
based mediation and moderation with regard to online
conflict/coercion
in 10 years time

26. Language

27. DEFINITION
Language is the medium through which human relations are
conducted, be it spoken or written language. A language is never
fixed. It changes constantly, adapting to the changes in society’s
needs.

28. Mechanics of written text are viewed as less important; writing has
increasingly become an instrument for recording informal speech
rather than a form of linguistic representation
Language (both spoken and written) plays a reduced role as a social
status marker
Internet communication will also see a stronger use of audio and
video, as tools to create these components become easier and faster
to use

29. Convergence has its benefits
Enable Talk, a software solution that transforms sign language, into
a form of verbal communication through sensor-equipped gloves
and a mobile device.
Example of the convergence of
Visual language with oral language
case in point

30. Currently, the overwhelmingly text and speech based nature of
communication comes at the expense of social skills such as face-to-
face contact and reading non-verbal cues.
However, with increased network capacities, and new technological
advances that move away from the ‘text and speech’ paradigm of
earlier technology, this may become less of an issue
consequences

31. There will be conformity of language
Writing and speaking will continue to merge in order to effect
this evolution, and the result will be a language that efficiently
and creatively combines the characteristics and the
technologies of both
Eventually, we will have multi-technology hybridity
– writing, speech, and audio and visual elements meshed
together – and this will require new learning and new adoption
in 10 years’ time

32. Conclusion

33. These four (technological) realities challenge our assumptions
about human relations calling for us to rethink conventional
notions about multitasking, transparency, individual
empowerment and language.
Social
Interaction
‘Always On”
Diminished
Privacy
New
Boundaries
Changing
Language
In the next ten years,
Social interaction will
be profoundly
transformed by these
four new realties of
human interaction.

34. This presentation is in response to the IE
Business School admissions essay question :
How do you imagine social interaction within 10
years, taking into consideration the impact of
technology on human relations?
By Deepu Nair