By Published On: March 14, 2013

What do diamonds and attention have in common?
Scarcity.

Advances in communication technology have allowed us to accomplish so much on the go with easily shared and chronicled collective knowledge. According to a recent 2012 Pew Internet study, 85% of all American adults own a cell phone and 67% of those individuals regularly find themselves checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls.1

But unfortunately, being connected can have its serious disadvantages. For example, 40% of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger.2 Being connected has also made us a bit paranoid; 39% of cell owners say that people they know have complained, because they don’t respond promptly to phone calls or text messages. 1

Enter Google Glass, Google’s new digitally enhanced eyewear that allows users to take pictures, record video, perform searches, video conference, and pull information all from a screen in their glasses. Touted as the possible “smartphone killer”3, Google Glass puts us two steps ahead in how we learn and interact with the world but also put us two steps back with managing our limited attention reserve. Now, we don’t even have to take the ten to thirty seconds to pull out our phones, we can almost instantaneously communicate with the world.

Google has potentially gobbled up the last of human’s scare attention reserve. Imagine driving with someone who’s trying to figure out directions via Google Glass or trying to have a serious conversation with your spouse as they look up sports scores via Google Glass.

As with any major technology advancement, we adapt and learn to incorporate the technology in our everyday lives. Time will tell how Google Glass, and other disruptive communication technologies, will affect the way we interact with each other.

 

 

1 http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Best-Worst-Mobile.aspx
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Teens-and-Distracted-Driving.aspx
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/why-brands-are-already-looking-google-glass-and-why-apple-should-be-worried-147435

About the Author: cat-tonic

cat-tonic
Born of curiosity and enthusiasm, we’re a scrappy group of smart, passionate marketers who work hard and play hard. We show up every day and fight for our clients who are making the world a better place. We listen with curiosity, explore deeply, ask hard questions, and sometimes put forth ideas that might make you squirm. Because we believe the status quo is good for growing mold but not much else. The way we see it, change is the way forward and the magic happens when curiosity, math, science, instinct, and talent intersect.
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