What We're Talking About...Pros and Cons of Modern Technology

There's a lot of debate around technology: is it making us smarter or dumber? More or less efficient? More or less informed? Many experts believe that technology can make us smarter, more efficient and more informed human being, but not everyone feels the same.

Technology is defined as: “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.” (Dictionary.com). However, literature and language can also be described as technological advancements. Most people would agree that reading and conversing with people make us smarter, but the argument of whether technology makes us smarter really depends on your interpretation of the word technology.

If you're curious about the pros and cons of modern technology here's what we're talking about...

This blog post is part of "Your Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation" blog series.

Articles

Death By 1,000 Apps: Why Tech Is Actually Making Us Less Efficient via. HubSpot

“82% of salespeople and marketers lose up to an hour a day managing tools”

HubSpot argues that there are so many different apps and technology that supposedly make us more efficient, but in reality, makes marketers and salespeople spend more time managing all of the technologies. It is especially important to ensure that all the technologies are easy to integrate if they actually want to be more efficient. Most companies have more tools than they think they do, since most are integrated with each other, but for the ones that can't integrate, it results in an unnecessary amount of time spent on data input.

18 Productivity-Boosting Bots for Marketers via. HubSpot

“AI will eliminate 16% of U.S. jobs by 2025”

This article goes over 18 productivity boosting bots for marketers. For each of the different bots, HubSpot displays their price, integrations with Slack, Messenger or other integrations, and gives a quick description of what the bot does and how it can help increase productivity.

Why I Don't Use Autoresponders via. Jenn's Trends

“There are few things I like less than receiving a Twitter DM that is spamming someone’s Facebook page or blog just because I decided to follow them”

Jenn Herman, Instagram Queen, discusses how auto responders on social media are so impersonal. Not just do they seem impersonal, if you try and respond to them, you will never get a response, which doesn't look good for your company. The desire to respond to every person might seem nice, but there are better ways to engage with your audience.

Marketing Technology May Never Consolidate (But That's a Good Thing) via. Chiefmartec

This article discusses the benefits of not having a manageable number of marketing software choices. Companies are offering even-more-niche offerings that are beneficial for all companies. They are able to find what works best for their company. The large companies, while they have their own products, are able to promote integrations with each other. Marketers would have the benefit of stability and the benefit of augmenting platforms with 3rd party products.

Marketing Technology is More Than Just Vendors and Tools via. Awaken Your Superhero

“Marketing technology is a mindset, a way of thinking”

This article challenges the view that marketing technology is a simply box of tools and explains what marketing technology really is - a mindset. Christopher Penn provides a lot of analogies to help understand what marketing technology is and how we should embrace marketing technology and explore all of the opportunities.

Is your company ready for marketing automation? This article goes over 4 pieces of criteria to clue you in.

New Evergage Study Shows Compelling Personalization Benefits - But There's Still Room for Improvement in Executing Campaigns via. Martech Series

“88% of marketers say their customers expect an experience, across digital properties, that’s personalized to them.”

This article talks about the power of personalization and how beneficial it is for customers, from the marketers' perspective. However, marketers also realize that their personalization efforts aren't quite where they want to be due to a variety of reasons. The article also covers the main ways companies are using personalization including: the different channels, how they are determining criteria, types, machine learning and more.

Good workflows can hold the key to smooth marketing automation. Check out this article on the topic!

Podcast

Artificial Intelligence Business Applications via. Marketing Smarts Podcast

“The latest reports show that by the year 2030, which is not that far away (13 years), that 50% of jobs are at risk of being made redundant”

This article talks about how AI is disrupting every industry and discusses the implications on the workforce. Even further down the road, 50-100 years, society could turn into a sort of utopia where people are being forced into early retirement due to bots taking over 80-90% of jobs. The article also talks about education and how higher education should transition more into nano-degrees since the job you went to college for 4 years for may no longer exist once you graduate. Most graduates are in debt and expect to pay off their debt through their job, but if the job no longer exists, they won't be able to pay it off. With nano-degrees, you are taught what you need to know in 3-6 months for a fraction of the cost and if your job becomes nonexistent, you can go back to school and get another nano-degree, saving you money and time.

Debate

Is Technology Making Us Smarter or Dumber? via. PBS

“More people have access to cell phones than they do toilets”

This debate talks about whether technology is making us smarter or dumber. Both sides have great points about the different benefits of technology, but also discuss how technology can be distracting. One of the main points from the “smarter” team is that technology makes us connected to people in ways that weren't possible 10 years ago. We have the world at our fingertips and can be connected with people across the world, and learn information in an instant. One of the main points from the “dumber” team is that the function of technology is to make things easier, going back to the invention of written language, which made us not have to remember things, effecting our memory.

TED Talk

Don't Fear Superintelligent AI via. TED

“I do not fear the creation of an AI like this, because it will eventually embody some of our values.”

This TED Talk discusses why we shouldn't fear super intelligent AI. Technology extends the human experience in profound ways. Grady Booch addresses the issue that most people have with AI, that they aren't human, but he argues that AI will eventually embody our values. We wouldn't program the technology, we would teach our moral values to technology.

He also addresses another fear that technology will take over the world. He argues that we can't protect ourselves against all random acts of violence and that creating a system that would take over the world, would require a lot of work that not enough people would want to create. He doesn't fear the lone wolves that are trying to take over the world because they don't have the power to actually create the technology.

Interested in boosting your digital marketing strategy? This free Digital Marketing Strategy Assessment tool assesses the maturity of your current digital ecosystem and provides you with suggestions for improvement.

Do you think technology is beneficial or distracting? Helping or hurting us? Comment Below!