There is no sure way to predict what technology ten years from now will be like, but if we notice how many products were nonexistent in 2010, we will begin to realize the growth that is capable in only a single decade. 

To list, some products we didn’t have ten years ago include: Snapchat, Instagram, 4G LTE, Pinterest, Lyft, Uber, WhatsApp, Kickstarter, GPS on smartphones, and Venmo.

This might be hard to believe that the inventions that are so prominent to an individual’s everyday life, the public only knew for ten years. 

Nelson Figueroa, a general manager in hospitality marketing, has been around an ever-changing atmosphere, now being able to order food and have it delivered just by the click of a button. During an interview he mentioned his view on how society has changed due to technology, saying, “I don’t think society has changed much in the last ten years. I think things will happen at a faster pace since now they have like coding and so many more things coming about now, that in ten years, lights in a house will just come on or turn off. I don’t think people will act differently. I don’t think they act differently than they did 20 years ago. They say people are more isolated now but I think that’s all by choice.”

Apart from how much society may or may not have changed, how did we live without this technology? Well, the point is that it expands based on demands and needs of the people. 

A prediction made about the future mentions that screens will no longer be needed due to the future of virtual reality. As of now, VR headsets are used for entertainment and are more on the bulky side of size, but the prediction ten years from now is an innovation called Light Field Displays, which “eliminates the need for a headset or display altogether, projecting 4D images directly onto your retinas from a point of focus.”

Altogether, the electronic industry will completely reinvent itself in the next decade, with “next-gen ‘displays’” replacing phone and TV screens.

To predict the technology in the future, Figueroa mentions that, “ Age of cell phones will be gone with bluetooth and Apple watches. Even now there is enough technology that cell phones won’t be needed.”

Environmental awareness is also growing. Such as with solar panels. This is due to the increase in global population since normal energy increases strain on fossil fuel companies. Smart grid technology will also be a popular commodity. 

They are “defined as self-sufficient systems that can find solutions quickly in an available system that reduces the workforce and targets sustainable, reliable, safe and quality electricity to all consumers.” For example, the dishwasher or refrigerator in a house would all be run by renewable energy or energy efficient resources. It allows a reduction in electricity waste and energy costs.
Many people also complain about the loss of jobs due to technological advances, but some of the top jobs that are seen to rise because of the same problem that is causing them to decrease include, alternative vehicle developer, avatar manager, body part maker, climate change reversal specialist, memory augmentation surgeon, nano medic, orbital tour guide, and waste data handler.

Dean Sauerwald, a tech knowledgeable senior, also lends his view of the next ten years, saying that, “Physical jobs will be less needed than they were previously, making it harder for people with a trade to find a job since technology took over most of those jobs.” He continues to mention that, “We are growing up with the new wave of technology that we will be the first to use and probably abuse. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier but can be hurtful to our society too.”

No one can accurately predict the future and how technology will develop or even how society itself will change, only time will tell.