A Life Without Screens: The Future of Digital Life

Imagine a Garment That Can Place a Phone Call

Photo by Heng Films on Unsplash

Ivan Poupyrev is a world-renowned designer and inventor. He is leading Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects team, and he has a vision for the future of our digital life. In his recent TED Talk in April 2019, he outlined a vision for the future of digital life. In his Talk, he argues that we have not really advanced our user interface since the early days of the computer. We have a screen and a mouse or a finger. Ivan is imagining a future where instead we will have integrated interfaces that have new functionality. You might be thinking that this sounds like the beginning of a generic Internet of Things conversation, but Ivan asserts that this is not about making more gadgets.

Ivan Poupyrev TED Talk at TED2019

“First of all, I want to make myself clear — I am not talking about the Internet of Things. I’m not talking about creating another gadget you get bored with and throw in the back of your drawer and forget about. I am talking about the foundational, important principle, which guides my work: “Technology has to make existing things better.” It makes them better by connecting them to your digital life and adds new usefulness and new functionality while remaining the same original purpose, not changing it. This jacket I am wearing can control my mobile phone and presentation, but it still remains a jacket. That means that once we start making all things interactive and connected, every thing would have its own set of actuators, displays and sensors specific for those things. A pair of running shoes does not need to have a touch sensor. Why would it have one? If you have a sensor, it should measure your running performance or knee impact, while remaining a great pair of shoes. Makers of things will have to start thinking what kind of digital functionality they have to offer to their consumers. They will have to become service providers, or they may become irrelevant. We will have to provide and create a service ecosystem just like we’ve done for mobile phones, where you have apps and services and everything else, and sometimes, you’re still making a phone call.”

Ivan’s vision for the future is quite beautiful. Instead of obsessing with screens, we might appreciate the world around us more. He has prototyped plant interfaces. Imagine if we communicated through houseplants or were entertained by our gardens in the morning. Ivan has also prototyped functional interfaces for us to evolve beyond the screens of today. His vision is inspiring makers and craftspeople to imagine new ways to use technology in their designs, like a garment that can place a phone call. As Ivan says, “Technology has to make existing things better.” Makers and designers of the future will integrate technology into their products, and digital functionality will be added to more and more of our favorite things.