92% of the world’s currency is digital.
100 Mind-Blowing Digital Facts
Henry Cavill’s muscles are the real deal. Henry Cavill refused to take steroids for his role as Superman. He also refused digital enhancements, so the hulking physique you see in the films is all-natural. He reasoned that it would have been dishonest to manipulate the Superman look.
Indians read the most in the world. On average, they spend 10 hours more of their time during the week just reading. In the age of digital media, this country still prefers an old-fashioned book rather than their phones.
The remote control was invented earlier than the television. 30 years before the first digital television, Nikola Tesla invented a “teleautomaton” that could control certain devices at a distance through radio waves. His first remote-controlled device was a remote-controlled boat in 1898. Since then, people adapted the wired remote for television. However, due to injuries, they developed it further to be a wireless remote.
Facebook was originally a directory of freshmen with their names and pictures. It’s a book of faces! Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard colleagues created a digital book of new students with their faces on it. Since then, Facebook has become the leading social networking website in the world.
How much digital data has been created so far in the world? In 2018, the Global Datasphere amounted to 33 Zettabytes of data. Nearly 60% of that data was stored on traditional hard drives. IDC predicts the Datasphere will explode to 175 Zettabytes by 2025. Cloud storage continues to lead growth in data storage solutions as time goes on. By 2025, nearly 50% of the world’s data may exist in the cloud. China should soon become the country with the most cumulative data. Growth in the country is expected to outpace the rest of the world by 30%. As time goes on, cumulative data storage should continue to explode in growth around the world.
Over 90% of the world’s currency is digital. I don’t know about you, but I rarely have cash! Between credit cards, debit cards, direct deposit, and online purchases, that leaves only about 8% of global currency to be physical money.
Digital music sales surpassed physical sales in 2014. Since MP3 players arrived, digital music sales have been slowly rising. Once Spotify came out in 2008, it seemed the age of physical music was over. In 2014, download sales and subscriptions made $6.85 billion, while physical sales were just barely under it at $6.82 billion.
Digital tech is good for the environment. It is estimated that digital technology could reduce global carbon emissions by 20% by 2030. That’s equal to getting rid of 100% of China’s emissions plus an additional 1.5 billion tons!
There are only 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined in total. You’d think as it’s a digital currency, the number of bitcoins available would be unlimited. However, if this was the case, that would devalue the currency and render it worthless.
Digital ad spending hit $261.1 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $440.3 billion by 2027.
Linux Market Share: Linux has gained ground as the third most popular desktop operating system, with a 2.92% market share as of October 2023, according to Statcounter. Beyond desktops, Linux’s reach extends further, serving as the backbone for a staggering 90% of the world’s cloud infrastructure. Its versatility, open-source nature, and robust performance have made it a prominent player both on personal computers and in the vast network of servers powering the digital services we rely on daily.
Credentials are the most sought-after data in a hack (Verizon): Verizon’s report for 2021 on data security found that credentials are still one of the most sought-after data types, followed by personal data like social security numbers, names, and addresses. This demonstrates the importance of users protecting their own data and business data when using digital assets. IBM’s data report for 2021 also found hackers to be in search of personal details. The most common records compromised in this report were customer PII and anonymized customer data.
Remote working may be causing increased hacking issues (IBM): According to IBM and the Ponemon Institute, there’s been a 10% increase in the average total cost of data breaches between 2020 and 2021. Remote working and digital transformation caused by the pandemic of 2020 increased the average cost of a data breach by around $1.07 million. During the pandemic, IBM notes customer PII was the most common type of record lost, included in around 44% of breaches, and each record was worth around $180.
Cybersecurity: The NSA is also responsible for protecting U.S. communications networks and information systems from cyber threats. This dual role is critical in the digital age.
Two new forms of currency launched in the 21st Century: Mobile payment technology and virtual currency are two new forms of currency that launched in the 21st Century. Mobile payments are used to pay for products and services through a smartphone or tablet, while virtual currency is a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange. It is not controlled or regulated by a central bank.
This Century Is Transforming Money: The 2000s ushered in a new way for us to pay for things: mobile payment technology like Venmo, PayPal and Google Pay. Approximately 25% of people worldwide use mobile and digital wallets, ahead of credit cards (22.4%), debit cards (22.3%), and cash (20.5%), says Moneytransfers.com. Globally, the mobile payment market was worth $1.97 trillion in 2021, up 27.9% from the year prior.
The concept of money in the UK has evolved from commodity money, such as precious metals and livestock, to representative money like banknotes and coins, and now to digital money, such as online banking and cryptocurrency.
There will be more AI assistants than people in this world. Forecasts indicate that there will be 8.4 billion AI-powered digital voice assistant units in the world by 2024, which surpasses the total global population.
Almost All Smartphone Users Take Advantage of AI Voice Assistants: According to a study by Creative Strategies, 96 per cent of Android consumers and 98 per cent of iPhone consumers use Google and Apple’s AI-based digital assistants – ‘OK Google’ and ‘Siri’. The study further highlights that 51 per cent of consumers use digital assistants in cars, 39 per cent in homes, 6 per cent in public places, and 1.3 per cent at work.
GA PWC report from this year found that 96% of respondents intend to utilise AI simulations like digital twins. Simulations are massive in AI, as they can speed up risk analysis, provide insights, predict supply chain dynamics, and so on.