Everything is getting simpler! Each area of life has an app. One push of a button is all it takes to complete tasks. Artificial intelligence takes over the thinking and sets actions. More and more initiatives and companies are working to simplify or even revolutionize everyday life or selected activities with the help of digital services. These developments are to be welcomed. Whether and how they will be accepted can hardly be predicted. Why?
Nearly 8 billion opinions
The reasons for this are probably as varied as the realities of life of the users. If one assumes that body and mind function economically, the whole experience should be designed for simplification. On the other hand, simplicity also causes boredom, which in turn strengthens the inner urge to discover new things and accept challenges. A reaction occurs to action – in one direction or the other. Digital simplification is, therefore, not automatically a recipe for success.
Some smart household functions may be smart from a technical point of view, but they have little or no advantage in daily use. One example is lighting control systems. It is entertaining to dim the light in different rooms of the house via an app on a smartphone. In the long run, however, it is easier to operate the switch on the wall when you enter or leave the room – especially when compared to taking the smartphone out of your pocket, unlocking it, opening the light app, sliding the controls and confirming the settings. So it’s a long way to the acceptance of the “new simplicity” in our everyday lives.
Simplicity and comfort are more and more considered to be the must criteria in the digital age. It is often underestimated that the wrong application of different future solutions can lead to more problems than solutions.
Experiences as a driving force
The urge to discover new things and accept challenges (as already mentioned above) is also what drives and moves our analog everyday life. Yes, we can order and buy everything we need online. We don’t even have to leave our own four walls. Everything goes online and at the push of a button. Accordingly, we make frequent use of these possibilities. Nevertheless, it entertains us when we discover something beautiful in shop windows and can attack and try out new things in the shop. So we need challenging and straightforward solutions, online and offline experiences, anticipation, and quick fulfillment at the same time.
Smart benefits for all
The Internet of Things (IoT), smart homes, and smart cities will nevertheless find their way into our everyday lives. In the beginning, it will probably be early adopters and financially secure social classes. However, many initiatives are fighting to ensure that smart applications and the simplification of processes do not only benefit those who can afford them. Although this will not change so quickly in the case of technical gimmicks in the private sphere, it is already being accelerated in public areas. Here, for example, demand-oriented traffic light switches, situational warnings in road traffic or digital organizational measures in hospitals provide socially relevant advantages.
It’s that simple
As already mentioned at the beginning, every human being has its definition of “simple.” So what lesson can be drawn from this fragmentation? It is the lowest common denominator that applies to every (technical) further development – in this case: it is the simplicity of application that leads to a digital lightness. It decides whether smart applications are accepted as facilitation, both truthfully and situationally. The path from the first idea to the actual acceptance is long and stony because man is a creature of habit. Creative thinkers often do not have to get lost in complicated feasibility studies, but ask the following question: Is the new more straightforward than the conventional?