Digital Undertakers, On-Demand Grandkids And Other Jobs Of The Future

One of the most consistent signs of our shifting future is how quickly new jobs and industries are emerging. Even as some fear technology making certain jobs obsolete, there are sci-fi sounding sectors like asteroid mining that are actually becoming reality. What I find more interesting, though, are the jobs which will be created as we struggle to find a balance between enough and too much technology. On-demand companions. Digital undertakers. Chief Detail Officers. Content moderators. All of these are examples of a new range of jobs for the future and this week I have curated some interesting stories about each of them for you. If there is an underlying theme among them, it’s that the future will require more humanity … not less.

• Is This The Hardest Job In The World?
  One of the most powerful articles I read this week was this exposé into the daily lives of moderators who manage Facebook content. They are the ones who decide what is too violent or controversial to be shown and often the job is a hellish experience of suffering through the worst of humanity. Despite the difficulty, we will need more humans willing to take roles like this both to determine what content should be banned and also to help train algorithms to do this automatically.
• The Weird Rise Of Cyber Funerals & Digital Undertaking 
  When you die in the real world, in most cultures there is some sort of a celebration of life where people can come together. What if there was a similar sort of moment to happen online? Fueled by the desire for loved ones to be able to help people retire their profiles on social media, this article notes that a new field of “digital undertaking” focuses on the act of “erasing and tidying up your public data after you die.” It may be sad and macabre, but it’s also easy to see the need for this new service that is already becoming a job of the future.
• Rotten Tomatoes Removes Commenting Because People Suck
• After a barrage of stupid pre-release comments about the Captain Marvel film, Rotten Tomatoes killed commenting. On social media, people know who you are. Any forum for anonymous commenting today attracts those who are afraid to show their real faces and prefer the dark. Those voices should be denied the visibility they crave. I wish more sites would do the same.
• Politicians Get Schooled By The “Small” Things 
  Brexit might get derailed and a shortage of the correct size shipping pallets may be the reason, as this story notes. The end of the US government shutdown was widely credited to the threat of a strike from flight attendants. In a world of squabbling self-centered politicians, it seems the one thing we might count on is the deceptive importance of the small things. It reminded me of the wonderful TED talk several years ago from my former colleague Rory Sutherland all about why the world needs to enlist more people in the role of “Chief Detail Officers.”