We believe that the distinctions and boundaries between traditional modes of living have broken down to such a degree that it is now virtually impossible to isolate the needs, behaviours and aspirations of people in any particular sphere, without reference to the other aspects of their lives.
Working from home, shopping from work, increasingly mobile lifestyles – all are manifestations of the blurring distinctions between previously segmented strands of life.
In our view, too many analyses of future market opportunities and dynamics are anchored either in a belief in the ability of technology to dictate consumer behaviour on a mass scale, or in an isolated subset of the complex interactions that make up modern life, but fail to provide a ‘wide aperture’ overview of how the way we live is changing.
There cannot be an assumption that technology is always used by consumers in the way originally intended – or any way of knowing which technologies will flourish and which perish – without a broader understanding of how the strands of technological and human development cross, intertwine and diverge.