general - living - food
Report 20 / 2021-05-18
Our views and boundaries on privacy are changing because of corona and the emerging technology.
Being able to spend time with other people became reduced and nearly unavailable to most, as we lived more private lives for the last one and a half years.
In The World After we are no longer longing for real life privacy. Privacy used to be highly appreciated and considered a luxury. We wanted to live in privacy, dine in privacy, visit a museum in privacy, privacy was an exclusive concept that not everyone could afford.
Experiencing the pandemic has completely changed our mindset on privacy. We are constantly longing for contact. Having people around you became a luxury.
We already see that more and more people are starting to live in shared spaces, housing communities, or with friends, as they realised we could be alone in a small apartment for over a year at random. We want to be amongst other people instead of alone.
For restaurants and hotels, this means a new mindset that translates into new concepts and opportunities, no longer based on privacy but on encouraging contact between guests. Long tables where everyone can join at will. Hotels with rooms in different price ranges to accommodate a diverse set of people and give them an opportunity to meet.
Change your starting point, as privacy based concepts are out, and contact based concepts will match The World After.
Online privacy has long been a big issue. ‘Big Brother is watching you’ is not only sinking in but also expanding at a fast pace, growing into a large-scale scary operation. Being online more and more during the pandemic we are starting to realise that we should not let our data be gathered and shared like it is now. Giving large amounts of data means giving a large amount of power, which could be used and abused by anyone. As we blur the lines of our views on real life privacy, our online privacy will be a growing issue.
Online privacy awareness can also limit online interactions, as it limits the openness we all enjoyed during the pandemic. A change in this system can highly influence online businesses but also simple communications such as reservations for a bar or restaurant.
