Maddy’s Thoughts on the Process

Futures Activity Blog Post

The future activity was a fun way to explore possible futures that I may see one day. During the beginning of the process I was confused where it was heading but was enjoying the activity. We got to explore and expand on trends which led to a fun creative exercise where certain aspects of our creativity connected to our favorite childhood movies. As we continued exploring and developing our ideas on these futures, a mixture of both positive and negative impact became clear. Exploring these perceptions opened my eyes into thinking about my future and how these futures can impact me.

When thinking about this process there are a few things that stand out the most. The first is the advancement in technology. Looking back the past 15 years, technology has significantly changed and looking forward it will continue to develop and gain significance in our lives. Although the idea of new technologies in itself can be exciting, realizing that I can be a part of this field because of my program makes this aspect even more exciting to me. Although with the endless possibilities, I began thinking about the applications of extreme technologies. Will everyone accept it or will there be a divide or a clear distinction in generational trends.

Another thing that stood out during this process was the skills we believe will be useful. After my reflection I learned a lot of the skills we picked I developed outside of the classroom. Although school prepares us on how to apply the knowledge we learned and makes us more knowledgeable, the skills that would be helpful for various situations and dealing with uncertainty are not as apparent.

Finally, the last thing that interested me was the impacts of the trends, specifically the medical ones. When exploring implications of the trends, a lot of negative health impacts were hypothesized. This includes things such as high anxiety levels, feelings of loneliness, declining eye health, memory problems and more. Seeing that some of these are already apparent, these impacts made me slightly nervous for the future. However, this activity opened my eyes to the issues and is giving me time to prepare myself for side effects and learn to avoid them.

Overall it was fun to explore these trends, see what type of skills we should prepare ourselves with to succeed in every future and possible negative impacts that we should prepare for to avoid.