When you think about how quickly technology has changed pretty much everything in our lives, it’s incredible. Think about how different your everyday life is today with Smart Phones, Smart TV’s, GPS, etc. The odds are that virtually every aspect of your day is different today compared to ten or twenty years ago because of it. The proliferation of the consumer internet. It probably seems odd that something 30 years old is still in its infancy but that’s the case. Think about how old most industries in this country are that are central to our everyday lives. The telephone is 143 years, TV is 92 years, and computers are 80 years.
Here’s another one for you, payment systems. The first record of a payment system, similar to a check, is 2,371 years old. As far as we know, Romans invented it. Payment systems are still rapidly developing. It won't be what we are paying but how we are doing so.Â
According to Business Insider, 23 million Americans have used voice payment systems thus far. The most common way, through a smart speaker. With smart speakers in more than 40% of homes, it’s only a matter of time before you’re doing it too. Every digital payment system is already enabled this way, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Paypal, Venmo, and it’s about to go mainstream. In recent years we made the migration to chip and pin technology in the US to help crack down on fraud. Imagine not having to have cards that can be stolen at all?Â
You’ll have your payment information stored with your bank and or/mobile service providers and dictate what you want to pay and how you want to pay. In fact, you’ll likely be paying regular bills this way too, at least for the ones you don’t have automated. As we make the move toward this technology, not only will we still evolve a system created nearly 2,400 years ago, we’ll be making life easier and more secure in the process. That’s one thing technology hasn’t always done in our lives.
Photo By: Getty Images