From the late 1880s to the early 2000s, the world experienced the greatest revolution in advancement in science and technology. This period ushered in an era of technological advancement marked by the production of personal computers, commonly called laptops.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that technology is currently revolutionizing the world as we know it.
Technology trends are occurring in various areas, from business to learning, entertainment, and many others, making accessing information easier.
Our daily activities mainly depend on the internet as many have long abandoned traditional ways of carrying out our various tasks.
Young people today are largely dependent on computers and other technological gadgets.
Many of them can operate computer gadgets from as early as age five. Early introduction to various computer gadgets and other technology trends has played a role in young people’s formative years.
Many years ago, there was no Twitter, Instagram, search engines, face timing, electronic stores, or e-books. There was simply no e-anything that we have today.
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What’s Trending Among Youths?
Youth trends are primarily influenced by the fast-paced changes occurring in the technological world. Change happens very quickly in today’s modern and digital age, and so do technology trends amongst young people. The following are technology trends for 2022.
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Tiktok and other social media platforms
An Iphone 13 Pro max with social media apps.
TikTok is fast becoming a global trend among young people, and it is expected to evolve further in the coming years.
Tiktok is one of the latest social media channels, and its usage continues to rise among young people. With this social media platform, you enjoy various challenges.
It is a great show of talent and helps reduce boredom. There has also been an increase in users of other social media platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, Wechat, and Tinder.
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E-Learning
Webinar, online video training, tutorial podcast. A concept of e-learning.
The education industry remains plagued with various issues such as inclusion and high-rate dropout rate. The Covid 19 outbreak intensified by rising insecurity further strengthened the need for e-learning. Due to Nigeria being a prominent African market for smartphones and many other gadgets, many companies are seizing the opportunity to build various e-learning platforms. Students around Nigeria are now adopting e-learning platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, and Ulessons. These platforms are helping the e-learning revolution in Nigeria.
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Online retail trading & investing
Online retail trading & investing
Another technology trend we have seen among young people in 2022 is the rise in online trading. Nigeria was the second biggest market in retail trading in 2020 after South Africa, and this industry has continued to grow. The retail trading increase has been attributed to smartphone usage and access to less expensive data plans. Young people utilize mobile trading apps such as OctaFX, Binance, Luno, and other top trading applications.
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Cryptocurrencies & Blockchain
Businessman touching cryptocurrency circuit on virtual screen
Nigeria is setting records for bitcoin exchanging volumes with over $566 million trades in the last five years and has continued to grow annually. The adoption of cryptocurrency in Nigeria is said to be the highest in the world. The crypto market continues to attract a lot of millennials as there is continuous interest in bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other cryptocurrencies.
Read also: Fast Introduction to Blockchain and Cryptocurrency for Nigerians
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Remote work
View from shoulder of black man sitting at home office and working remotely.
Another new trend among young people in Nigeria is working from home, as many organizations are creating strategies to utilize this chance properly. Remote work has proved to save a significant amount of money for companies. It also helps save money for employees, reduces commutation, and helps improve work-life balance.
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Tech jobs
Young african male programmer writing program code sitting at the workplace with three monitors in the office.
In Nigeria, there is a rising demand for tech jobs and a general belief that IT jobs pay very well. Tech jobs offer young Nigerians the opportunity to be creative and innovative. Positions available include graphic design, web design and development, social media marketing, computer hardware engineering, data and business analysis, and many more. An increase further aids in the amount of digital and technology training young people now have access to and the demand for tech roles at home and abroad.
Read also: 10 Sites to Get Remote Tech Jobs in Africa
How are Young People Affected By Technology?
There is technology everywhere, and it continues to evolve regardless of how we feel about it. Technology trends have brought many significant changes to us, helping us carry out tasks quicker and easier. Young people continue to learn new things daily because of technology our parents never envisioned. Technology also has many adverse effects on young people, and they include:
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A decline in relationship and social skills
Young people using mobile devices are becoming increasingly addicted to them. This leads to them spending less time with both family and friends. We spend more time connecting with friends virtually, sharing pictures, and texting instead of meeting in person.
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Health problems
The overuse of mobile devices, remote working, and many more technological changes have become detrimental to our health. They lead to less physical activity as young people sometimes play video games for hours online combined with snacking. Over time these sedimentary habits lead to significant weight gain.
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Identity, self-esteem, and body image
The use of social media can impact the life of a young person as it determines people’s identity, self-esteem, and body image. Young people are pressured to portray themselves in socially acceptable ways, even if it may not be morally good.
While technology can be a great addition to society and allows you to connect to your loved ones, its overuse can become destructive. Over-reliance on technology damages the self-esteem of young people, slows relational development, creates a lack of empathy, and hinders the emotional development of young people.
Read also: Effect of Mobile Technology on the Nigerian Society
Current Trends in Technology
Technology trends continue to evolve. Every year we see key tech trends bringing innovative breakthroughs that can help transform our businesses and society.
Some technological trends in 2022 include:
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Smarter devices
The growth of computer power has led to the production of smarter devices. We now have smartphones, smart televisions, and autonomous cars, and we are seeing an introduction to smart houses and intelligent home robots.
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Computing power
This will continue to explode in 2022 as we now have better cloud infrastructure, and many businesses are re-platforming to the cloud. There is also a push for better network services with the 5G already being rolled out in Nigeria, and 6G is on the horizon.
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Artificial intelligence and machine learning
robot hand touching with human hand.
Businesses and organizations currently use all their data and computing power to advance AI globally. We now have a machine version of AI, where computers can see and recognize objects from videos and pictures, and the language version, where machines are built on understanding our voice and speaking back to us.
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Digital trust
NFT
Digital trust is a new surge in blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These innovations have gone beyond bitcoin, as we now have smart contracts that allow one to verify ownership with NFTs.
Read also: All You Need to Make Money With Nfts: The Best Information You’ll Ever Get
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Genomics
Genomics, gene editing, and synthetic biology are some of the top technology trends in 2022. Due to these improvements, we can now modify crops, cure and eradicate diseases and develop new vaccines such as the Covid 19 vaccine.
Conclusion
Our technology is better than ever, but very few of us understand what is going on inside the gadgets we use in our daily lives. For example, do you know how cell phones work? What about microwaves or computers? As strange as it sounds, the state of affairs is that a large percentage of people don’t really understand how their technological gadgets work.
You can drop your impressions in the comments section or chat with Insight.ng on WhatsApp regarding technology trends.
About Author
- David Chiedozie Ndeokwelu is a graduate of Microbiology, who holds a Masters degree in public health. He is currently a medical student at the University of Ilorin and is passionate about fields of career, public health, entrepreneurship and career building.
