Predicting the furture: Why we shouldn't do it.

I was looking back over a bunch of social media theorists and thought to myself  "wow, this actually did happen", but then other times they completely miss the mark.  Take 'micro-movies' for example.  They went well didn't they?  Oh for those of you who don't know what micro-movies are, that was sarcasm.  See how you don't even know what they are?... yeah.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, trying to predict the future is a real hit and miss game that we really should be careful with.  Take Henry Jenkins as another example.  When the internet showed up on the screen, he proclaimed limitless possibilities.  I mean yeah dont get me wrong, it would be very ironic for me to bad-mouth the internet,  I'm just saying he didn't account for people being jerks. 

anyway, since I don't like to predict the future I'm going to let others do it for me.

So I was reading this article...this one
http://socialmediatoday.com/ladyxtel/507170/future-social-media-relevance-mobile-niche-meaning

and there was a lot of talk about 'staying niche', as in, parts of social media stay.. well.. niche.  Does this mean we're going to be connected to even more different platforms in the future?  I'm not really going to say, remember I'm not the one predicting the future here, but I would like to ad that I don't really plan on joining too many platforms.  seriously, a little blogging, maybe tumblr.. facebook.  Actually while I'm on the topic of niche, I've already expressed my dislike for Twitter, but you know, Instagram is something which really shouldn't exist.  it's like:

Photo+Dark edges around border= Photography..  No it Doesn't!



But really I have enough trouble remembering my passwords, please don't give me anymore.



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You know, going back to my post about second life, I think the future of social networking and gaming will be really interesting.  So think about this, people who play a lot of MMOs.  I don't want to stereotype, but there would be a greater number of introverted people on the internet, hey, it's our safe-haven.  Now think about the futures in communication across these platforms.  More interactive means of communications may not be adapted fully.  Personally, I don't like the idea of a hologram phone call.  I don't even like regular phone calls; I text and call only when necessary.  I guess I'm just speculating just how welcome these advances in communication will be.


On the other hand, software changes to a game like second life will be rather interesting.  The game looks like it's from 2001 right now anyway, but maybe in a few years that might improve and create a more realistic second life.  There is no question the game will grow in content, and if it manages to grow in numbers, maybe it will reach a point that greater represents reality... maybe .65 life as opposed to .5 life. 

But will it expand in numbers?  Well generations to come are being more and more exposed to twechnology at a younger age, if this trend continues maybe more people will chose a life of fiction rather than to live in the real world, well, that's if there parents let them.  Again, i'm not going to go out on a limb and make predictions though.


OBLIGATORY CAT LINK
the quality is absolutely terrible on this one, but basically the video is outlining the evolution of cats and social media.  The cats begin to create their own social media, as they are evolving to the internet.  I really liked this episode, so I dunno check it out if you want (season 16: Faith Hilling), but yeah if not check out this crappy quality video.