What is Internet of Things and our responsibilities?

The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, that are transferring, collecting and sharing data without any human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

These has made it possible to turn anything, from a pill, to a smart watch to a self-driving vehicle into part of the IoT. (Morgan, 2020)

The early innovators and largest users of such devices have traditionally been in manufacturing and logistics – where devices can as simple as tracking where and how much stock is in inventory to being as sophisticated such that it can predict when a part may require changing, enabling real time data to be communicated without human intervention.

Hence, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet and/or to each other. This includes everything such as cellphones, smart watch, vehicles, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of.  This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig. So if it there is an on and off switch then there is a chances that it can be a part of the IoT.  

The analyst firm Gartner says that by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices. Which is a lot of connections, some even estimate this to be much higher, over 100 billion. The IoT is a giant network of connected “things” which also includes people.  The relationship will be between human-human, human-things, and things-things.

IoT has allows endless opportunities and connections to take place. Its not hard to see ow and why IoT become such a hot topic today. But not forgetting the challenges that it brought as well. One of the biggest challenges is Security. With everything connected and all the information on the internet we need to stay safe and educate ourselves with the information we are sharing online.

For now the best thing that we can do is educate ourselves about what the IoT is and the potential impacts that can be seen on how we work and live.

Let me know in the comments down below what you think about IoT now?

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References:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-the-internet-of-things-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-iot-right-now/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/#701dd90a1d09