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In this digital era, there has been a considerable rise in technological developments. This increase has contributed, among others, to the travelling industry which has made travelling easier and more popular. The popularity can be seen by the growing number of international arrivals per year which has reached 1.4 billion arrivals in 2019 (Roser n.d.). However, technology has also been implemented in other aspects of the industry that you probably did not think about, for instance in passports. When travelling your passport is the most essential item that you have to carry with you. You may, probably, have experienced that you forgot, lost, or even worse, that your passport was stolen (Thales Group n.d.-a). This can lead to not being able to travel because you cannot identify yourself. However, it seems like these issues will likely remain in the past, as physical passports will be preterit. 

Currently, physical passports include some type of technology; an electronic chip is embedded in the passport which contains your data (Thales Group n.d.-a; Ledsom 2020). Nevertheless, it is still required to have a passport with you when travelling, but, as mentioned before, this is not really convenient. The solution seems to lie in digital passports where personal data, for example, biometric information, visa, and digital picture, are stored in the cloud. This results in eliminating the need for a physical passport (Thales Group n.d.-a). Imagine that you are travelling to go abroad, when arriving at the airport you identify yourself, for instance, through your face or eye. The airport system then retrieves your information from the cloud and enables you to access, hereby excluding the necessity of a physical passport. The overall process of entering would then be automated. Moreover, travellers could be provided access to their data by using their phones. Making it possible for the person to see a digital copy of the data that is stored in the cloud and checking if their requested visa has been uploaded to the cloud (Thales Group n.d.-b). Therefore, it could be said that digital passports will disrupt to some extent airports as it changes the manner of travelling.

 Digitizing passports presents some challenges, namely, to make cloud passports possible a centralized data storage is needed (Thales Group n.d.-a). However, there is legislation concerning the mass storage of data which forms an obstacle. Furthermore, GDPR needs to be met since the data will contain sensitive information, and travellers have to adapt to the adjustments. Nevertheless, digitizing passports also have benefits, such as crossing the border will speed up owing to the faster passport controls. Moreover, the risk of losing or theft will disappear, and national security will increase as countries have a better overview of who is entering (Infineon 2020). In this manner the travel experience, as we know, will change and subsequently will be reshaped (Thales Group n.d.-a).

 In 2015 Australia was the first country to try cloud passports, however, since then not much has been heard of the passport (Airport Technology 2020). Until recently, digital passports have come up again due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has had a negative impact on the travel industry. In order to continue to provide their service during this time the industry must make it possible for people to be able to travel without touching. This means that processes like passport controls need to be done touch-free which the digital passport enables. In this manner, travellers are more safe and secure than before (Airport Technology 2020). It could be said that Covid-19 is accelerating to implement this type of technology (Ledsom 2020). 

 In conclusion, as digitization will become an important aspect in the near future, it looks like changing passports will be inevitable. However, in which manner and form these changes will happen only the time will tell. Eventually, the passport of today will not be the passport of tomorrow. What is your perception of the future of passports? Moreover, are you open to having your personal data to be stored in a cloud? Or would you prefer to have your own paper passport?

 

 

References 

Airport Technology (2020). The rise of touchless technology at airports. [Online] Available at https://www.airport-technology.com/features/touchless-technology-airports/ 

Infineon (n.d.). The electronic passport of the future – Infineon Technologies. [Online] Available at https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/applications/security/government-identification/electronic-passport/ 

Ledsom, A. (2020). How The Pandemic Is Accelerating The Death Of Paper Passports. [Online] Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2020/08/01/how-the-pandemic-is-accelerating-the-death-of-paper-passports/#4704a9dee2f6 

Roser, M. (n.d.). Tourism. [Online] Available at https://ourworldindata.org/tourism 

Thales Group (n.d.-a). Future of travel (traveling without a passport). [Online] Available at https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/government/eborder/future-of-travel 

Thales Group (n.d.-b). Virtual passport: your passport in the cloud? [Online] Available at https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/digital-identity-and-security/government/passport/virtual-passport

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In this digital era, social media has become an essential aspect of our lives. This aspect can be seen by the rapid rise in the number of, for example, Facebook users in the last decade (Clement 2019). Facebook, but also other social media companies, have established ecosystems where users are connected, and consumer needs are matched with providers. Moreover, these platforms enable users to produce, share, and consume information and content (Clement 2019). The value of these platforms grows when the number of participants in the network increases, which is called network effects. Social media has become even more fundamental since the Covid-19 crisis, people depend more than ever on these platforms to stay connected with family and friends (Van Erven 2020). These elements demonstrate the positive side of social media, however, are these platforms as bright as they seem?

Research has shown that users spent approximately three hours a day on social media and 18% of the users have the need to check their accounts every several hours (Leong, Hew, Ooi, Lee, and Hew 2019). The increase in social media usage has led to users not being aware of their addiction. This problem has arisen due to the design of these social media platforms. Elements such as the endless scroll and ‘like’ buttons, have been created to keep users on the platforms and therefore contribute to the addiction (Baxter 2018). As social media firms are earning high profits, the health of their users is declining. At the beginning of 2020 the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” came out which highlighted this problem and suggested that changes are necessary as social media can, among others, danger people’s health.

Currently, there are no specific regulations, besides GDPR, for this type of conducting business. However, the question is whether regulation is the right solution for social media addiction. As regulation can limit technological development and platforms can become less appealing for users (Baxter 2018). In my opinion, some type of legislation is needed, and social media firms need to be held accountable to some extent. They need to think and implement potential solutions to reduce the amount of usage. This could be done in a couple of manners, for instance by monitoring and informing users. Moreover, to take action if addiction signals are shown. Health should always be more important than conducting business.

To conclude, awareness needs to be raised about social media addiction and the manner it originates. However, as in the near future digitization will increase, it appears like social media will remain fundamental in society. Do you think that firms should be allowed to conduct business even though it affects people’s health? Moreover, should governance legislate, or do other solutions need to be found?

 

References:

• Baxter, P. (2018). Does the rise of social media addiction warrant regulation? Experts have their say, Verdict. [Online] Accessed at https://www.verdict.co.uk/social-media-addiction-regulation/
• Clement, J. (2019). Facebook users worldwide 2019, Statista. [Online] Accessed at https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
• Leong, L. Y., Hew, T. S., Ooi, K. B., Lee, V. H., & Hew, J. J. (2019). ‘A hybrid SEM-neural network analysis of social media addiction’. Expert Systems with Applications, 133, 296-316.
• The Social Dilemma. (2020). The Social Dilemma” – Take Action. [Online] Accessed at https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/take-action/
• Van Erven, R. (2020). In The Social Dilemma klinken de geïnterviewden als klokkenluiders, NRC. [Online] Accessed at https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/09/18/in-the-social-dilemma-klinken-de-geinterviewden-als-klokkenluiders-a4012664