Today I would like to talk to you about something that has been observed for some time and that, slowly, has been sneaking in through the back door until it has settled into our lives.
I'm not referring to technological change, but to the disappearance of the alternative.
Not so long ago, you could choose whether to buy an airline ticket online or at the ticket counter. Whether to pay by card or cash. Whether to speak to a person or interact with a machine. Digitalization was advancing, yes, but without completely eliminating traditional options. There was freedom of choice. Today, in many, many cases, these options are no longer possible, or if they are, prepare for a nightmare.
More and more social, everyday, and fundamental processes are now only available through digital means. Paying in some parking lots requires downloading an app. Entry to certain shows requires scanning a QR code. Don't even think about flying without a charged phone or charger. There are alternatives, but they require time and patience. Those who don't adapt will be left behind.
Many people had resisted this dependence on mobile phones and the digitization of their bookings, payments, and personal credentials. But now they are all succumbing.
The problem is that those who have been slowest to adapt to the digitalization of daily life have simultaneously encountered another wave of innovations. And the truth is that many of the previous ones are not yet fully established.
AI burst onto the scene just as we hadn't fully absorbed digitalization. And digitalization took hold precisely as human contact disappeared from many services. We're accumulating levels of change like geological layers, but without time for them to settle.
But the problem isn't just practical. It's psychological. Because in addition to everything mentioned above, new layers of complexity are emerging. Artificial intelligence is leading to increasingly sophisticated platforms, constant changes in systems and interfaces. Nothing stays the same for very long. And what worked a month ago, you'd already gotten used to, now requires three more steps, a new password, or a different version of the operating system.
This feeling of constant instability is exhausting. What was once a transformation is now an avalanche. And many people can't keep up. And since there's no longer the option of doing things the way they used to be, technological stress is inevitable.
Personally, there was something that comforted me: that what I could absorb… probably the person next to me couldn't either. The human capacity for adaptation would give me time. But lately, that comfort has faded. Because I'm forced to understand applications that I highly doubt most people understand how they work.
Sometimes, companies rush things too much…
