Because of the fact that I had a pretty bad mountain-bike accident last Saturday the release of this episode was slightly delayed – my apologies!

So… anyway, here is episode #5 of The Future Show (TFS)  OFFLINE IS THE NEW LUXURY. This is the final episode of TFS's first season, btw – I hope you enjoyed the videos so far.

In this episode:

In the near future, there will be almost no distinction between being ‘online' and ‘offline' anymore. Access to the Internet is becoming like water or electricity; always there and — at least in most developed countries — no longer requiring any special mention. As mobile broadband proliferates around the globe and the BRICs leap into connectivity, we will be looking at something like 5 Billion highly-connected users in 2020. What used to be a luxury may in fact become both simply ‘normal' as well as a new kind of burden or even a liability. The push-back against over-connectivity and Internet / mobile device addiction is already palpable everywhere, and the quest for ‘digital detox' is becoming more common. While our entire lives will be embedded in connectivity and digital media, without a doubt, it will also become a new kind of luxury to simply be ‘in the moment' and not have to share, connect, communicate or otherwise suck on the digital firehose of content and data. TFS host and creator Gerd Leonhard believes that we will need to debate and create a new social contract to help us define to what extent will we allow digital connectivity into our lives. Paying for privacy will certainly become a new business, and being offline will cost extra…

Find out more at https://thefutureshow.tv/episode-5/

A big thanks to Shaheera Asante deWaele for producing this show!

All TFS videos can be viewed at  https://thefutureshow.tv/ or on the TFS Youtube playlist