Book Evaluation

Phillip Bloomquist
COMM 112
11/21/13

Schmidt, Eric, and Jared Cohen. The New Digital Age: Reshaping
the Future of People, Nations and Business. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 2013. Print.
The Authors Thesis:
Amidst our use of technology in everyday life, we must realize that the
technology that our future has in store for us will impact us in ways that we
may or may not imagine, and we must learn to embrace technology with
great care, as it will perhaps play the most important role in our future
everyday life.

The Authors Call to Action:

While we go about life in our usual everyday fashion, we are in the
constant presence of the new technology that has been developed during our
lifetimes. To be thinking about really how new this technology is (computers,
iPods, smartphones, gaming systems, etc.) is something that can be utterly
mind-blowing. With the pace that we see this technology growing at, we can
look forward to the future simply with awe. There absolutely will be great
technologies waiting to be produced and intertwined with our daily lives. In
preparation for these occurrences, we, not as separate nations or cultures (or
any other affiliations for that matter), but as a human race, must be aware of
what these technologies will have to offer. It is clear to see that we have had
a difference in everyday life looking back even 10 years in our past from the
present day, which translates to even more of a radical shift in life with the
increasing growth of technology. With this to consider as we approach farther
into the age of technology, we have much to look forward to and much to be
wary of.

10 Pieces of Evidence
1. In the first decade of the 21st century the number of people connected to the
Internet worldwide increased from 350 million to more than 2 billion.
In the same period, the number of mobile phone subscribers rose from 750
million to well over 5 billion (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 4).
- This statistic illustrates the fact that we have been through an increase
in the presence of technology that has never been seen before. These various
electronics that we use in our everyday life we become more prevalent by the use
of all from the centers of a bustling metropolis to the slums of a third-world
country.
2. Communication technologies represent opportunities for cultural
breakthroughs as well as technical ones (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 5).
- As we see technology increase, there will be (and to an extent, already
has been) opportunities to connect people from across continents. Whether it be
international businesses or distant family members, people of different cultures
and languages will need to learn to tolerate each other and prove that
communication is crucial to the advancement of our society.
3. What connectivity also brings, beyond mobile phones, is the ability to collect
and use data (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 15).
- It is logical to conclude that connectivity is brought to civilized parts of
the world. The authors observe that once this is done to poorer, less-civilized
countries, we will see an increase in productivity in all facets of life from those
who inhabit the area, as they will have the same opportunities as others who
have that technology as well.
4. As for lifes small daily tasks, information systems will streamline many of
them for people living in [wealthy] countries (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 16).
- This relates to the fact that we will see a drastic, yet imaginable change
in the way we will go about our everyday life in the future. Simple tasks that we
usually do manually, such as haircuts and plugging in our phones to charge
them, will be able to be completed and monitored by artificial intelligence.
5. As fewer jobs require a physical presence, talented individuals will have more
options available to them (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 19).
- Another observation of future technology that will be bringing people
together from far lands, well see the opportunity for skilled individuals to bring
their talents to foreign companies. The authors give the example of Uruguayan
citizens to compete for jobs with Orange County natives.

6. Future connectivity promises a dazzling array of quality of life

improvements(Schmidt & Cohen, p. 23).
- In this specific quote, the authors explain the enhancement of
entertainment and personalization features that will become commonplace in
our living quarters. The description of devices, screens, and various machines
given shows the reader an idea of what to expect in their future home.
7. The advances in health and medicine in our near future will be among the
most significant of all the new game-changing developments (Schmidt & Cohen,
p. 25).
- The various inventions that are bound to arrive are going to be
highlighted specifically by the health industry because of their ability to
lengthen life expectancies, whether they be cures for our most combated diseases
or technologies to help us further understand our anatomy.
8. Description of getting out of bed and going to work routine in the future
(Schmidt & Cohen, p. 28-31)
- The authors provided an excellent illustration of what we can expect in
the future in terms of what our daily routine of getting out of bed and going to
work situation (which is one of the common tasks of citizens across the world)
will be. All of the various machines that will help assist us in our daily rise-andshine are highlighted.
9. In the next decade, the worlds virtual population will outnumber the
population of Earth (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 32).
- This observation is one that is simply amazing to think about. While we
may not think about it everyday, we do forge our own identities that may or may
not be separate from our physical personality, and have the potential to further
amplify them as we see technology advance.
10. As billions of people come online in the next decade, many will discover a
newfound independence-in ideas, speech and conversation-that will test these
boundaries (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 83).
- The authors are proving the point that we may be seeing a separate
system of governing for the online world of each nation, which is something that
may have similar characteristics of its law of the land, or may have vast
differences, possibly seen as unjust by the specific nations citizens.

Essay Portion
Upon completion of this book, I was able to see media in a new,
interesting point of view. Before I had the opportunity to take in the authors
words, I had seen the presence of technology and the media that they emit in
a simpler way. I had shared the same thoughts about technology as most
others did. The content in this book, which is about humans, and how
humans interact with, implement, adapt to and exploit technologies in their
environment, now and in the future, throughout the world (Schmidt & Cohen,
p. 11), really pushes the reader to explore the future that we will be facing.
Whether you can create these situations in your own mind or not, the authors
provide a well-thought illustration of the future as it will center on the
development of technology. In deeper thought, I was able to consider the
authors thesis and recollect my thoughts into whether or not I could reach
harmony with their opinion. I considered my point of view, with the effects
that I see technology having on society today, and the authors point of view,
with their explanation on how we may see technology yield itself in the
future, and concluded that I can side myself with the authors belief that we
must embrace technology as it increases its presence and efficiency, as it will
play a great part of our daily life in the future
The two authors, Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, and
Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas and a Rhodes scholar, provided their
insight into this book. I pondered the interesting fact that they collaborated

to create a book such as this. Making my way through the book, it was clear
that with their job titles and professional extension into this technology-run
world, they can surely be looked to as some of the most credible sources to
create a project such as this.
Of the topics discussed in the book, I found the authors description of a
typical routine of a young urban professional living in an American city a
few decades from now (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 28-31) to be one of the most
detailed portrayals to be absorbed by myself. Consisting of special sensors
that monitor our sleeping rhythms, computer systems that give robots
household chores for the day, and holographic tablets and avatar-represented
clients, our future mornings seem to be straight out of your latest sci-fi future
utopian blockbuster. Further realization of what is to be expected in the
future can only motivate the reader of such details to explore and consider
what possibilities we will be faced with all this new and exciting technology.
As we go through our present-day life as humans, we should realize
that we have had such a special opportunity to enhance our quality of life
with the emergence of technology. Countless tasks that used to be of higher
difficulty are made easier by our great endeavors into the technological
world, which is in constant evolvement. For example, we began with
telephones, which have benefited us by connecting people from distances not
easily reached by sheer physical distance. We now see technologies like these
transforming into a more improved, efficient form. Cellular phones are an

example of this, which has even continued its development into smart
phones. What will we be seeing in the next development of our phones?
Examples like the telephone give us proof that our technological world is
changing, sometimes at an extremely rapid pace that is crucial for us to keep
up with.
It can be noticed that we can separate citizens into two different
categories, to say. We have our generation of tech-savvied, social mediadriven people (considered to be mostly consistent of our younger generations),
and those who havent really quite embraced technology as well as the
younger generations have (considered to be our senior citizens). Now, we can
see an older gentleman take out a newest-generation iPad and pull up
proceeding to scroll through his timeline on Twitter flawlessly (a rare sight to
see), but this situation may become something that will not even be a rare
sight, but rather a nonexistent occurrence in the future. Because of
technologys quickening pace to develop and our drive to improve our
everyday life with it, we may see a generation of older citizens completely
separated from the rest of society because of the presence that technology will
have in our lives. Possible debacles such as this will drive us to educate our
citizens to use the ever-expanding technology to its potential.
Something that is not going to run across the mind of an average
observer of technology is that we are still in the beginning of an age that
humans have never quite experienced. Were only just beginning to

witness (the Internets) impact on the world stage (Schmidt & Cohen, p. 3).
While the Internet is one thing, we see telephones as mentioned before
making its ascent into a crucial, evolving technology well utilized by humans.
This can pose the question of What other technology will we see that will be
of similar or possibly more importance than our cell phones? Is it something
that we can even reach with the figment of our imaginations? Sure, the
computer is something that we can see becoming of greater importance than
it is now, but will we see a previously unthinkable technological invention
come to surface? After all, who saw something even remotely like the
computer coming? All of these possibilities can be pondered, which should
make us even more involved in the production of technology, as we can
certainly see something with such a large impact of the cell phone or the
personal computers magnitude coming of great importance.
In approaching our upcoming time of the ever-growing importance of
technology, we, as a world of eventual technologically intertwined people, need to
form a rapport and improve relationships amongst our differing cultures and
languages. In encountering growing web accessibility for people who may have
never been able to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot before, we will be in another learning
process in terms of teaching technologically-poor people how to load a website, or
place a call and send a text on an iPhone. Beginning with the teaching of basic uses
of technology for these people once again gives the idea that we, not just as
American citizens, but as a worldwide society, may be forever in possession of
technologically poor people (thinking back to our older generations). Perhaps this

could become the new minority? Interesting to think that we could see the
belittlement of people who are unsure of themselves on how to search for, lets say,
a recipe on Google instead of our thoughts of people who are scorned as minorities
today.
In sum, the authors have given me the confidence to side with their opinions
on our New Digital Age. I now see it to be logical that we are faced with a
technological world in which we have some instances that we can expect and
predict, and others where we have utterly no idea of what is to come. Of these
instances we can expect, we certainly see positivity in terms of creating a better
everyday life for us as a human race, with menial tasks being automated by artificial
intelligence and groundbreaking advancements in the medical field to come. This
positivity consummates itself in the fact that we can see ourselves living for a much
longer time, whether it is in my lifetime, my childrens, or my grandchildrens. Of
other instances in which we cant predict, there is indeed potential for more
positivity, yet there are also negative events that most likely are looming in the notso-far distance. We cannot tell the future (at least not quite yet), but looking back on
history (it does repeat itself after all), we can anticipate there will always be some
type of complication that the human race will be doing battle with. Our involvement
with technology and our impending future is something that can be thought about
with constant furor with our most intelligent beings, yet we simply must take our
time and live in the present. With the impact that technology is having and will have
on us, we must put our full attention towards it because that is what will make, or
break, our species as we know it.