Page 31 - digitalliteracy

1.4 How Technology Has Transformed

the Way We Live

The most obvious change technology has heralded what Rodney Heisterberg and Alakh Verma
(2014), authors of Creating Business Agility, call “the age of hyperconnectivity” (p. 69)—a
state in which we are always connected to the Internet through some kind of device. You may
experience this hyperconnectivity yourself. Many people today are rarely disconnected from
others. They can interact with anyone or anything, no matter what time it is or where they are
located. They can continually access information and applications for any number of reasons.

For example, Chantal always has her smartphone with her. She is available if her children’s
school calls or a friend or family member needs to reach her. When shopping at the mall, she
scans a product’s bar code with her smartphone to compare the price at various online retail-
ers. If the product is cheaper online, she does another quick search to see if she can get extra
savings with a coupon or other incentive offer. She also checks in on her Ashford class and
responds to classmates’ posts while she eats lunch at the food court.

While Chantal is shopping, she receives text alerts from nearby stores about sales and special
offers. These stores have used location services such as Foursquare or Google to find nearby
customers. She also receives a text alert from her local television station that the highway
near her home is closed due to a traffic accident, so Chantal uses a smartphone app to map an
alternate route to pick up her children from school.

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