Following on from my blog post outlining an A-Z of Digital, here is “X is for Xperience”.

Xperience (Ok I am stretching the bounds here as I am reaching the end of the alphabet – its a silent E at the start of the word) covers how we use these technologies and advancements to shape our lives and the effects that they have on them.  We have moved at a rapid rate of development with technology forming an everyday part of our lives.

Looking at my son’s homework last night on programming in python to find the area of a circle, a square and also answering questions on Amazon Drone Deliveries and how they will impact the economy, I drew some synergies of when I was his age as some of what he was doing was similar to myself learning basic and programming a ZX80 (and saving it to an audio cassette), however the use of drones that are now common place were on the verge of science fiction for me at that time.

As technology moves on and develops, we have been consuming it, but our expectations are growing at a faster rate, always wanting the next best thing and its ability to operate faster than we are xperiencing today. Booting up on several 5 1/4 inch floppy disks to start a PC and then start an application was the best thing since sliced bread at one time. These days if the PC has not started and loaded by the time its turned on, the perception is that it is slow.

Turning this experience the other way round where some many not want to accept change and take the same pace as the rate technology is adapting. Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, spoke about this recently in an article in the Guardian, ‘I don’t know whether humans want change that fast‘

“I recognise that, in the Valley, people are obsessed with the pace of technological change,” he says. “It’s tough to get that part right… We rush sometimes, and can misfire for an average person. As humans, I don’t know whether we want change that fast – I don’t think we do.”

– Sundar Pichai, Google CEO (Source: The Guardian)

Whether we embrace, ignore or reject the way that the digital revolution is bringing change, our Xperiences are still changing and our expectations are also increasing with an always-on interactive society. To survive the changes we need to have an adaptive behaviour that allows us to evolve at the right pace with the rate right of development.

Learning plays a big part in our ability to keep up with the change and developments as well as understanding what is going on in the marketplace. Learning needs to be right and focused to help guide our Xperiences and how much learning will depend upon what we are doing. Borrowing an equation from ecology L>=C, if your learning is not greater or equal to the rate of change you will fall behind.