Internet Of Things: How Tech Will Smartly Enhance Our Lives
Among all the current leading trends in technology, the Internet of Things (IoT) is likely the one that most affects a person’s daily life. Indeed, IoT refers to each physical device that is connected to the internet, from headphones to washing machines, from lamps to buildings – and almost anything else you can think of. Hence, thanks to the internet, devices may be able to acquire digital intelligence that allows them to interact with humans in a merging point between the digital and physical worlds. [1]
Initially, IoT was used for business and manufacturing (i.e. it was defined as M2M: Machine-to-Machine), but now it definitely seems headed toward affecting people’s lives. One statistic states that, in 2018, 23.2 billion connected devices will be in use worldwide, and they will skyrocket to more than 75 billion in 2025. [2] Furthermore, it is suggested that the global market size of IoT is going to be worth nearly 1.4 trillion USD. [3] This trend is fostered by the plunging of connections’ and devices’ costs against the increase in their market penetration. [4]
Although IoT could be used by businesses and governments, which in this way could obtain more data about their processes and significantly improve their weaknesses, the disruptive power of IoT can be more clearly observed in its relationship with humans.
Often, the first thing you’re likely to think of when thinking about IoT is the smartwatch and some of its neat but not-game-changing applications. Indeed, the smartwatch is part of a larger family of IoT devices, but thinking just of this is limiting. IoT has a wide range of usages that make the environment around us more interactive and smarter. It doesn’t concern only facilities that ease some habits, but devices which enhance greatly the outcome of certain relevant actions – as shown below.
To best stress the considerable impact IoT might have on our lives and to highlight some of its concrete applications, it’s useful to rethink how our day might be in ten years (or even less).
Likely, when your alarm clock will start ringing at sunrise, you’ll get up and your coffee machine will immediately start brewing your favourite coffee (with a little of sugar and milk), while you’ll listen to the latest breaking news from a voice assistant. Then, you’ll probably brush your teeth, which could be healthier than now thanks to smart toothbrushes that will be able to detect the presence of a cavity. And again, when you’re heading to the office by car, you will stop struggling desperately for a parking space on the edge of the street, since you will be able to reserve it in advance. And if it is a terrible hot day, you will be able to turn on the air conditioner before getting to your desktop. [5] These are just some simple actions that will be improved by IoT, but to properly get the range of this phenomenon, it’s useful to analyse even more disruptive possible breakthroughs.
Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) allows for significant advances in the healthcare industry. IoMT devices can help track vitals and heart performance, monitor glucose and other bodily systems, help remind patients to take medications, and routine blood and urine tests will be done at home. Moreover, devices for internal surveillance will allow patients to control their conditions even when they aren’t at the hospital.
Considering that, by 2025, 1.3 billion people out of 8 billion will be elderly, IoMT sounds like a huge pivot in healthcare. [6]
Other sector, other issues. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, since the world population is growing, we ought to produce 70% more food in 2050 than we did in 2006. For this reason, farming is going to be transformed into smart farming to improve production efficiency. Some instances are sensors placed in fields to obtain detailed maps of the resources and the features of the soil, as well as long term climate forecasts and the remote monitoring of equipment, crops, and livestock. [7]
Education will be part of the IoT disruption as well. For example, personalized education will be possible through wristband sensors and video cameras that gather live data on student’s cognitive-emotional states. [8] This might allow teachers to tailor the educational path of each student.
A key point that must be taken into consideration concerns security issues, since privacy breaches will become more common. Ways to effectively cope with them must be prioritized by each IoT maker: with everything being connected, domino effects will become way more dramatic.
Although there are plenty of different examples in the IoT world, the common factor is the improvement of our lives in terms of efficiency, opportunity, comfort and services’ customization.
The footprints of these applications are already present. But soon even a simple bottle of water won’t be just a simple bottle of water anymore – but a customizable smart bottle of water.
Source:
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/471264/iot-number-of-connected-devices-worldwide/
[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/485136/global-internet-of-things-market-size/
[5] https://www.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-smart-cities-2016-10
[7] https://www.businessinsider.com/internet-of-things-smart-agriculture-2016-10
[8] https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2018/06/4-innovative-internet-things-applications-horizon
2 comments on “Internet Of Things: How Tech Will Smartly Enhance Our Lives”
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Yes, IoT will be a technology with a lot of touch points in our daily personal lives. A lot of use cases are out there, some fantastic, especially in elderly monitoring and more to come. There is a lot of buzz in the IoT marketplace. I currently read an article that states there will be 200 Billion connected devices within the next two years – a number far higher than stated in other research reports. 200 Billion devices in 2020 will mean 26 connected devices per capita. This is realistic in my opinion? Let’s count the connected devices we have! How short are we of getting close to 26 connected devices per capita in our home in 2018?
Hi Stefan!
You’re right, the numbers of some forecast seem unrealistic. In particular, considering short term forecasts (e.g. the 2020 one you mentioned) for which it’s pretty clear how predictions won’t overlap reality.
In any case, I reckon that by 2025 each person will have way more devices than nowadays. Probably not 26, but definitely more. Indeed, if you consider as devices even those which improve trivial tasks at home (rather than office, or wherever), their number will significantly become huge.
One question. Not considering forecasts, do you think IoT will substantially change our lives, or do you reckon it will end up being just an overused buzzword?