In digital era, rely more on your sixth sense

t is the world of the data. The Facebook tells you which age group likes your video posting. Statistics can tell where you have been spending your money or even travelling.

Gone are the days of cash or currency notes. A few years ago, we talked about plastic money and then everything got smarter. So, you have the virtual currency. Do we wait to see how others fare or shall we test the waters?

We have come a long way, but there are numismatists who still collect coins and notes.

Currencies of the world are not just taking the pressure off value and appearance, they are getting ready to explore a new reality.

Cryptocurrencies are here. There are already individuals investing even when they are not regulated yet. So forget that you were shy of using the credit card and hesitant to move forward with e-commerce and shop online because of fear of lack of cyber security. Here is the currency you can never touch, smell or count with your hands.

Realities are changing faster than ever before, but if you look back this has always been the way the world operated. While we are debating about cyber security, we are slowly moving into an era where the digital currencies can be a reality.

But some financial experts say cryptocurrencies are too fluid. “Who is holding it?” is a concern. Would they be a threat to the mainstream currencies? “Only if cryptocurrencies are not regulated,” say experts.

If one side of the coin is digital currency, the other side is data. The use of credit cards is probably one of the biggest source of statistics.

The currency, especially when it is digitally transacted, leaves a trace and gives accurate statistics. The digital era also brings in its own challenges.

“Four to five years from now, we will not conduct business like we do now. We need to upgrade ourselves. We need to see how we can benefit from data revolution because data is available everywhere. They are real-time statistics. One of our main aims for 2018 is to have brainstorming sessions by bringing together national, regional and international professionals who have different expertise to understand the role of statistics in the era of digital revolution or the big data,” says Sabir al Harbi, Director-General of GCC Statistical Center of Cooperation Council of the Arab Countries of the Gulf.

Social media has been ruling not just social life but collecting data that are indicators of our lifestyle today and maybe even tomorrow. Because today we are predictable, and if technology continues the phase it has been on, there is a lot of social evolution we can expect.

The need of the hour, of course, is to try to achieve the right balance, but we definitely cannot afford to reject or ignore the development lest we get disconnected.

Psychologists blame social media for the increase in loneliness that has been noted in the recent years in societies of the world. Getting connected also has been resulting in disconnections.

It seems somehow expressing in texts are easier to be designed than a faceto-face conversation. It could be the emotions that are prevalent in a direct interaction compared with expressing oneself in typed out words.

There can be manipulations and an attempt to conceal the true self but then that is the whole point of the digital era — the inability to connect with the five senses. Maybe in this era we probably have to depend more on the sixth sense — intuition.