Back To The Future

History has taught us to expect some regressive steps from the latest technologies before a quantum leap.

- Jaime Mandelbaum

Conan O’Brien, the US chat-show host, did what he does best in conversation with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper before a packed house at the Cannes Lions back in 2013. He tapped into culture and the current state of things. When he pointed out that everyone in the audience holding up their phone or tablet without actually seeing with their own eyes was completely disconnected from what was going on around them, he spotlighted reality with a joke.

Over the years that followed, if anything this behavioural trend got worse. And yet, by January, Silicon Valley appeared to be experiencing a shift.

Over in New York, Google, Facebook, Twitter and even Snapchat presented to the advertising industry against a changing backdrop characterised not by yet more screens but the peeling away of our digital experiences. There now exists a new race of subtraction, if you like, towards the paring back of that evil layer that once stood in the way of seamless consumer immersion in digital information, entertainment or other shared experiences: the screen.

What’s driving this is the rapid emergence of voice-command devices. From Amazon’s Echo and Google Home to arguably even Snapchat’s Spectacles, there is a new generation of lighter and less obtrusive, more naturalistic interfaces. And the fundamental difference is that they let you carry on with whatever else it is you are doing without a screen getting in your way.