Technology will never stop advancing, and thus the job of the interaction designer will never disappear as well. At its core, I believe we will always have to put the user’s needs at the center of everything we do, and will continue the iterative process no matter how far we go. A blurring of physical and virtual spaces could definitely happen, and already is to an extent. Technology will continue to surround and engulf us until our lives are so intertwined that they are inseparable. At the moment, VR and AR could turn into some very exciting things that would be useful for many of us, including the obsoletion of screens as a whole. Soon, they could be integrated into daily life and we wouldn’t have to go to our computers or phones to check in with the rest of the world. This might somehow even be integrated into our housing and all physical spaces, and so it could leave psychological impacts as we try to distinguish between what is “real” and what isn’t.
AI systems will advance as well. Machines will be able to figure us and our needs out instantly, and shape the way they behave to suit us. In a more cynical prediction, our behavior can be shaped back as well, and if the designer is successful, they’ll teach us new habits and behaviors like Pavlov’s dogs. Once enough data about us is mined and collected, those who hold it will be unbelievably powerful and my hope is that the law will have caught up at that point. Interaction designers will design either for the user or for how they want the user to be.
The rollout of 5G is already increasing connectivity, and since the pandemic has forced us all into online communication as a primary means, it will definitely be game-changing even just a few more years down the line. We will eventually become so connected that it will simply be second-nature to speak with anyone from anywhere in the world at any given moment. There will be unlimited storage as well, near instantaneous access speed to data and media, and ubiquitous allotment of information to anyone. Privacy will be basically gone, and it will become the job of designers to figure out ways to restore it. Technology can solve and create many problems, and so I believe designers and engineers will always have to fix the mistakes we make and be tasked with the responsibility of using our skills to make the world better.
