Digital Living – the study

The world of telecommunications is in constant flux, with fast, mobile networks enabling uninterrupted access to new Internet-based products and services. Digitization and networking ensure that anyone can stay in touch with the people and things that are of special personal importance to them at any time.

This study explores the influence of digitization and networking on various aspects of our lives and our lives in general. It is supported by Deutsche Telekom and at the same time marks the start of the “LIFE” series of studies, which will in future investigate further trends in telecommunications. The present study was conceived and carried out by Professor Dr. Thomas Hess, Director of the Institute for Information Systems and New Media at the Munich Ludwig-Maximilian University, in conjunction with the strategic consultancy Zehnvier.

Digitization and networking – today and tomorrow

The world is full of theories as far as digitization and networking of life are concerned: the future of the Internet is mobile, people will organize their lives and work digitally, stylish devices are the prestige items of tomorrow. Individual technologies, applications, trends or aspects of life are usually examined in isolation.

Against this background, the “Digital Living” study aims to provide a structured and comprehensive overview of the way that people currently handle digital media. It intends to shed light on how networked consumers currently are in key areas of their own lives – such as leisure, work or exchanges with family and friends.

A further aim of the study is to examine and gauge various development prospects for networking and what consumers expect from future technologies and applications.

Within the scope of the study the following questions will therefore be explored in depth:

• How do consumers currently handle digital media? How much do we already take digital media for granted in our lives? What importance is currently attached to digitization and networking in various areas of life?

• What role will various communications media play in future – in both our personal lives and working environments? How will the degree of digitization and networking change in people’s lives?

• How will technical infrastructures – broadband connections,

transfer speeds, and mobile and stationary Internet – develop?

• Which services and applications will interest consumers in future? What ideas and needs and thus also requirements in terms of the organization of telecommunications services do consumers have?

• What developments can be observed internationally? Where does Germany stand according to international standards?