Humanize first, then digitize. But why?

COVID has only expedited, what was anyways the destiny i.e. the digital dominance in our lives!

It would be futile to even attempt to list down the elements which have got digitized in the last 10 years as no human mind can list down even half of them. This is just the beginning and with AI & ML the possibilities are infinite.

There has always been a debate about the pros & cons of this tech revolution, where both the sides have something to show as a benefit or pitfall

• Loss of jobs due to automation vs creation of opportunities in tech space
• Loss of human connect vs ability to see our near and dear ones over a video call
• Adverse social impact vs ability to connect a huge population in rural areas

The list can go on and on

However this is one aspect where tech interventions have certainly caused significant damage and that is to the movement – Physical movement of the human body.

There are no second thoughts that due to the increased tech interventions we are moving less and less, every passing day. The lifestyle is becoming more sedentary and inactive

Human mind’s potential is unlimited but human body is not as adaptive as the human mind. It took thousands of years of slow evolution process for the human body structure to come to current form. This current form has some needs & some boundaries and has some ‘design’ fundamentals.

Just because

• Someone invented a smartphone doesn’t mean that your neck would adapt and start bending more
• Someone was able to fit in all the computer parts in a sleek body and called it laptop, doesn’t mean that our skeletal structure supports working with computer on our lap
• Somebody conceived a living room with cushy sofa doesn’t mean that our body is trained & designed to lie on it for long hours
• Everything we need is available with a few taps on our smartphones – doesn’t mean that our body has adapted & reconciled to the fact that it doesn’t need to move!!!

So while human aspirations drive digitization, we need to see if that is humanized first.