FamilyTech (Family Technology)

2023: FamilyTech: How the Family Digital Market is Evolving

In November 2023, the Institute HSE for Statistical Research and Knowledge Economics published a report focusing on so-called family digital technologies (FamilyTech). Such developments, according to experts, transform the human life and way of life of almost every family. Analysts highlighted several technological trends for the market in question in the world and in. Russia

The first place in the global list was taken by video conferencing, the second - distance learning, the third - cloud games. On FamilyTech's global agenda, a number of areas combine the functions of entertainment and support for work/learning tasks, as well as personal development goals. This is facilitated, for example, by intellectual assistants, social networks that help, among other things, to hone social skills (empathy, love), mobile games, valuable elements of freedom, the ability to create your own reality (as in the Minecraft game), and previously mentioned virtual reality technologies, noted in ISIEZ HSE.

In Russia, the main vector of FamilyTech development is informed, conscious, patronizing parenthood, taking care of the virtual and physical safety of children. Its supports are, in particular, parental control applications for the consumption of digital content, technology for protecting children's data on the network, home and external video surveillance.

A distinctive feature of the Russian FamilyTech industry is the focus on smart home applications. Smart speakers, built-in virtual assistants, smartwatches become a convenient "entry point" into the world of digital technologies for users of various ages - from preschoolers to older people. The further spread of smart ecosystems for solving family problems is facilitated, on the one hand, by their growing availability, on the other, by the standardization of digital technologies for the home. So, in July 2023, Rosstandart approved an appropriate promising program, and in the fall of 2022, key market players switched to a single cross-platform standard for smart home devices Matter (built on the principles of open source, makes it possible to integrate smart home ecosystems of various manufacturers into a single network).

According to analysts, when analyzing the Russian agenda, an avalanche-like growth in entertainment and gaming content is also noticeable, which is made more and more realistic every year due to the VR development/and AR immersive technologies, cloud games, etc. Gamification of educational content, expanding the use of interactive applications with speech recognition and support for personalized recommendations can counter this trend. This is especially true for the segment (KidTech technologies for young children, many of whom do not yet know how to read and write). In the early stages, parents are more able to influence a child's user experience and thereby set patterns for their digital consumption in the future. Some of these solutions are successfully used, for example, to learn foreign languages ​ ​ (platforms, etc Buddy.ai Duolingo.).

The Higher School of Economics and Economics notes that the practices and formats of remote and hybrid work and study that have gained a foothold after the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically changed the usual organization of family life. All over the world and in Russia, there is a transition from the model of "work VS home and care for children" to a model where parents have to simultaneously perform professional tasks, ensure the quality of children's education, monitor their health and socio-emotional development.^[1]

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