[Aye Up]

We are moving into an ever connected world, where not being online doing your shopping or insurance agreements are out of place. Society is moving towards handling everything via their mobile, from basic bill payments to buying products with the "contactless" facility.

Is it never ending?

Having seen what has happened over the last few years with the release of wikileaks cables, not forgetting Snowdon debacle. People have become a bit more switched on to recognising how their personal information maybe used or abused. We have seen Facebook caught up countless times with their own privacy policy, the site itself making it more difficult to withold bits of information "which they apparently need".

We have had Google unify its privacy policy under the one roof for all its platforms (YouTube, Gmail, G+, Searches). They have been told god knows how many times to alter it so it fits within European law.

I was having this discussion the other evening with the husband and he said something rather interesting. Most folk even in light of the Snowdon issue still don't really know what they are signing up to. Networks activiely monitor your usage so they can sell that information to third parties.

Everywhere we look nowadays, whether on the bus, train or tube, everyone is buried in their smart devices. What was seen as odd 10 years ago, now is considered the norm. No longer do we have the random chats at the bus stop about it being late or the weather being horrible, we seem to be losing that connection and more specifically the ability to communicate without our phones next to us.

Personally I think we have lost something in respect of the advancements in technology. It has made our lives easier to some degree, but its also a massive money spinner for the likes of Google and Facebook.

Google is basically kingpin of advertising on both desktop and mobile, it seems it has licence to print money. Their future looks assured in the sense they have stable regular income.

I wonder what of Facebook? They are I am certain about to reach their peak, both in user numbers and time spent on the site. If I am not mistaken the majority of users do access the service (if we can call it that) via mobile devices. The problem there however is its lack of diversity, for instance Amazon/Google/Microsoft have a very broad portfolio of services (from cloud storage to email). What does Facebook have? An investment in WhatsApp probably won't return much dividends relative to the price they paid for it. Oculusrift seems like a need to spend the cash pile on anything.

I think Facebook and to some degree mobile lifestyle in general will probably peak in 2-3 years. I don't have any facts or figures to back it up being honest. However I just have a hunch that we will reach a point where consumers realise how much information the aforementioned hold on them. I also think the market is going to swirve and do an about turn, I am already seeing even in my own circles "digital fatigue", folk are either becoming overwhelmed or bored.

Facebook has a longterm problem of sustaining growth and revenue, literally in the space of a year it can be number one and then be knocked off its pedastal by an innovative competitor. Basically becoming "uncool"

Do you think there is more to come?

Might we see a return of etiquette around using a mobile?

Do you use your mobile at the dinner table or on public transport?

What are your thought and experiences?

[Stig]

Can't sleep?

[jonmorris]

Lots of good questions there, many of which might make threads of their own.

I'd love to answer, but don't know where to start!

I would say that we are perhaps reaching a saturation point, but that's been done before (when people had ordinary/feature phones) and while there might be plenty of people yet to buy a smartphone, I think we're going to see a massive slow down on people upgrading.

Apple will always get people to want the 'new iPhone' but a lot of people will just stick with what they have and be happy until it breaks or the battery dies.

And as for usage, as in being glued to the phone at home and when out (even when out with friends), perhaps people will get bored. People are already showing signs of getting bored with some social media, if only because it's like information overload and makes you easily stressed by feeling you're missing out on stuff that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.