yes, you heard that right !!!
We may have everything except lost our understanding of aromas. Individuals these days use antiperspirant to hide their body odors and traffic exhaust fumes in megacities make us numb to olfactory sensations. We may even think about our noses similarly as a spot to put our glasses, or as a reminder that we have caught a cold.
In reality, smell is important; the chemical language of scent is a physical sensation that affects us directly and deeply. This is why, for example, car manufacturers make sure that their cars smell new, or why coffee shops are so much more alluring than vacuum-packed coffee from the supermarket.
Typical online experiences don’t involve scent today; however, consumers are estimating our sense of smell to be a key part of the internet by 2030. More than half of the world’s population already lives away from nature, and continued urbanization drives have increased our need for natural experiences. For this reason, 6 in 10 expect to be able to digitally visit forests or the countryside and experience all the natural smells of those places. This is the most highly held expectation among the smell-related concepts respondents were asked to rate, and it indicates a strong need for deeper immersion than videos can offer.
The experience of watching any type of video would feel more immersive if you could smell the action. In 2030, 56 percent expect to be able to digitally savor all the smells in films they watch. Although there have been attempts to incorporate scent during films as far back as the early 1960s, their failure to gain popularity have likely been due to a lack of effective technology rather than of popular interest.
Given our shallow acquaintance with many of the world’s aromas, it also seems consumers are open for innovation in this field, with 47 percent expecting smell data to be available for companies to use commercially. At least for now, many don’t see the need to keep their digital smell private.
Finally, this technology doesn’t have to cause a stink — we will be able to avoid bad smells whenever we choose, with more than half expecting a device that digitally transforms stinky smells into nice fragrances in their noses. Almost half also expect to be able to control how they smell to others, using digital perfume and deodorants.
