Today everything has become Digital. The smartphone has become an integral part of your life & a platform for daily Digital requirements. From checking the daily weather to Train Time-Table to ordering food to book a railway ticket, to watching a movie, most of your daily activities are taken care of Digitally through your Mobile Phones. Digital dependency will go on increasing even more in the future. The transformation is good especially for the modern generation even though it has some side effects as well.
If you are an 80’s born kid, you are lucky enough to experience this transformation. Belonging to the 80’s Era I have not only experience but lived this transformation.
During our School Days having a Computer at your home was a luxury, a status symbol. Children from middle-class families like myself used to go to Cyber Café to surf the Internet. Not sure about the charges, but it was something around Rs. 50 per hour. After enrolling in college and once I started doing my PG Computer Mgt. Degree a Desktop PC became more of a requirement rather than a luxury for me.
I got a PC at my home & still remember connecting Internet to the PC using MTNL Telephone Connection. The amount of time it took to start your Rediff Mail and Internet Explorer browser was insane. Still remember the heavy Internet charges which were adjusted in your Telephone Bills.
Slowly Laptops started taking over & also wired Internet service providers started increasing. In Cable, Hathway & other local Cable providers use to provide the Internet Services & still they do so. I still remember paying Rs. 500 something for 50 GB per month of Internet usage. Currently, I pay the same amount & get unlimited GBs which can be utilized even to watch an entire movie on Amazon Prime or Hotstar every weekend.
Due to digitalization, the transformation which was more alarming & noticeable, and beneficial was the Mobile Phones. Brands like Apple, MI, Samsung, and One Plus are ruling the smartphone market today. It all began with Nokia Mobile phones. Almost, 80% of the market was with Nokia and the competitor which arrived to cater for the upper class was Blackberry. I still, remember the Blackberry phone which my friend used to have. It was more like having an iPhone today. Also, Blackberry started some Chat Services which was well before WhatsApp came into existence.
Before Mobile it was Pager. A small device that you can keep in your pocket. It was something in 2000 or 2001 during my FY or SY B’Com Days, a score update of IND vs AUS ODI was shared with me by my friend who had a pager with him. Nowadays you can watch an entire ODI orT20 Game Live on your Laptop or Mobile. That is some awesome Digital Transformation for a Cricket Addict like me.
One of the most integral part of this Digital Transformation was Social Media. From Orkut, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter & WhatsApp well Social Media has taken complete control of this world. Even a Country’s Elections can be won today by making proper use of Social Media. You can be an Influencer earning Lacs per month or market your products and services by making use of Social Media. However, like positive effects, there are a lot of negative effects of this medium as well. Distracted mind, a tool of promoting false propaganda, and communal tensions to name a few. So using Social Media carefully is very important in today’s age.
Another major digital transformation is the evolution of Mobile Apps. Everything is App-based today. From ordering Vegetables to groceries to mobile phones, to clothes, and booking a Cab everything is digitalized. Still, remember the time when the only source of ordering the food was to Call the Hotel on its Landline number. Today with Apps like Swiggy & Zomato you can order Roti from one hotel and Sabji from another and rice from yet another hotel Well that’s the optimum use of Digital Transformation.
I may have missed some points because too many things have been digitalized in the last decade or so. You can add some more in the comment box given below in this article.
In the next blog will share about the Future of Digitalization & being a Digital Marketer can write a few words about the same.