New research commissioned by Dell Boomi – and carried out by OnePoll – surveyed 1,000 12-15 years olds based in the UK to ask them what technologies they think they’ll be using when they enter the workplace in the next 10-15 years. The top five technologies identified were:
- Cars that drive themselves (66%)
- Robot assistants at work (47%)
- Artificial Intelligence (41%)
- Virtual offices (38%)
- Robot housekeepers (34%)
What’s more, just over a quarter (26%) of youngsters think commercial space travel will be a thing by 2032, and over one in five (22%) think they’ll be using computers linked to their brains.
In fact, over half (52%) of 12-15 year olds think they will be using technology that hasn’t even been invented when they go into the workplace in 10-15 years’ time.
What does technology mean to you?
Boomi also asked the children in the survey what technology means to them. Many of the responses centred on how technology ‘makes lives easier’ and ‘makes life better’, as well as how technology ‘assists people’ or ‘helps and entertains humans’.
For others, technology was about the ‘new’ – such as ‘innovations’ and ‘gadgets’ that they can use to talk to friends or do homework, while some simply stated that technology is ‘the future’. The word cloud below highlights the most popular terms and here are just a few quotes from the 12-15 year olds themselves:
- “A better way of doing things”
- “Everything! It’s in everything I do in my life”
- “It’s new stuff. It means life will be easier and maybe better”
- “It’s the future and it will do almost everything that humans can do and more”
- “Without it I would spiral into depression. It keeps me entertained”
- “A way of escaping reality and having fun with my friends on social media or texting”