The 10 technological developments that changed the daily life of Greeks

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The 10 technological developments that changed the daily life of Greeks And five more that will change in the first half of the 2020s

The decade of 2010 (2010 - 2019) was the year that brought digital technologies to the forefront of the 4th industrial revolution. At the same time, however, it has been a decade where even the Greeks - despite the financial crisis - have begun to make extensive use of digital technologies. Internet penetration rates and smartphones, especially at the age of 45, are above 90%, social media is particularly popular, and digital technologies in general are an essential part of our daily lives.

But what were the technological developments that most influenced the daily lives of Greek citizens more than anything else?

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First of all, we should start with the smartphone and in general the portable computing devices, which should include tablets, which were very popular in the middle of this decade. Simply, now the magnification of smartphones screens results in tablets not being necessary. In any case, mobile devices, and especially smartphones, have dramatically changed the lives of the Greeks, who spend more than 2 hours a day in front of their "smart" mobile phone screen. And they use the smartphone literally for everything: to get informed, to have fun, to get on social media, to watch movies, to listen to music, to book tickets to the cinema or theater, to order food or taxis, even to sunbathe on the beach! The decade of the 10s could easily be described as the decade of smartphones,which may have appeared a little earlier but since 2011 and then started to become very popular in the Greek market.

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It should be noted, however, that widespread use of the smartphone would not be so feasible if the 4G (4G) mobile networks were not developed in Greece. Given that they haven't been as advertised as 3G before or 5G now, 4G networks haven't received the publicity they deserve. Despite the fact that their development and rapid expansion into the Greek territory -in the middle of it 1990s - played a key role in enabling Greek consumers to take advantage of the capabilities of smartphones but of different applications and services wherever they are.

The apps and services or just the apps that made their appearance in that decade have literally changed the way we do different things in our daily lives. We no longer use maps but Google Maps, we buy tickets for our trips online, we book rooms online,we order food through various apps available and generally spend many hours online. In addition, e-commerce has begun to grow dramatically and has now reached a significant share of retail and wholesale sales with the Internet being one of the major distribution channels for businesses. Plus there are now businesses that have the Internet as their sole sales channel.

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One reason we spend many hours online is social media services, which in the 1990s became very popular in Greece. It is rather news to find a Greek who does not have a Facebook account, which is now especially popular at older ages, especially as young people avoid it and use Instagram more. Twitter was particularly popular a few years ago and has reached the point of political controversy even though its popularity has fallen.More generally, however, social media has been widely used in politics both in Greece and abroad to the point that the concepts of trolls and fake news are no longer unknown to the general public.
Another change that changed our daily life in Greece was instant messaging. The popularity of short text messaging (SMS) has dropped significantly but this does not mean that texting has been limited. Greeks simply prefer to talk via Facebook Messenger, Viber and WhatsApp, which are the three most popular instant messaging services. The ability to communicate for free - once you have access to the Internet - has changed a lot of Greeks' habits, and it is interesting that WhatsApp and Viber are used extensively for voice communication mainly with people outside Greece as the cost of communication is extremely low flat.
4G and improved broadband coupled with changing habits have begun to make popular in Greece the so-called streaming music and video services. Netflix, in terms of video content, and Spotify in music have changed the way that Greek consumers have access to content. In particular, Netflix - in combination with the growing popularity of YouTube - has changed the way we view television and video content with the linear approach being replaced by the ability to see what you want whenever you want.
One development that is not so technological but would not have been possible without the support of technology and which has created new data even in the Greek economy is the so-called sharing economy. The most striking example is Airbnb, a service that has enabled hundreds of thousands of Greeks to rent their homes in central Athens and other cities to tourists from around the world. Of course, Airbnb is not the only example of a sharing economy service, it is just at this moment that it has changed more than any other day in the life of Greeks.
Another technological development that has made its presence felt in our country in recent years and is changing the daily lives of citizens is the interconnected devices and the "famous" Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet of Things. Although most believe that IoT is connected to sensors and industry, the reality is that all devices that have an Internet connection are included. These include both smart TVs and smartwatches, which are becoming more and more popular in our country. Smart TVs have helped change our TV viewing habits content, while smartwatches and smartbands change the way we monitor our biometrics and the way we workout.
All of the above would not be possible, however, if there were no two major technological developments. The first is about leveraging a large amount of data, called big data, which in combination with cloud services, where everything is running on the Internet, has made it possible to provide a range of applications and services that have existed in thought since the '00s but it was impossible to implement. As with all of these developments, artificial intelligence (AI) has also contributed significantly, allowing - at least at this stage - the provision of more personalized services. What needs to be clarified is that AI is not a technology we will see coming to Greece, but it is simply here already and changing our daily lives in many ways.

The next decade:
Concerning the near future, there are a number of technological developments that have begun to change the daily lives of citizens abroad, but in Greece they appear with some delay.

For example, digital voice assistants such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Siri (Apple) have changed the lives of millions of users. In Greece, the lack of support for the Greek language is an issue that will be resolved in the near future, although until then there is the solution of MLIC's MAIC.
Another technological development that is going well abroad but in Greece will concern us in the near future is that of electric motoring. The lack of incentives and related infrastructure is the reason behind the delay, though the decade now starting is expected to be much more electric.

Finally, there are three technologies that are already here but have not yet made their presence known to the general public. But that will change in the years to come. These are blockchain, 3D printing and AR / VR (augmented reality / virtual reality). Technologies that along with the emergence of 5G networks and the increase of speed in fixed broadband are promising to bring us a number of new changes in our daily habits. The question is simply whether we are ready to adapt to these rapidly changing changes.