Mal Fletcher comments on the need to only use digital technologies only insofar as they enhance human potential.

Automation in the home and workspace and on the roads will open some exciting doors. It may reduce mundane tasks, allowing us more time to engage with work we enjoy. It might also give us the chance to realise our ideas more quickly, thus freeing time for greater levels of innovation.

We may also find ourselves enjoying a wider range of work relationships, particularly as Industry 4.0 leads us into smart factories and offices, where people working remotely are more intrinsically linked to each other via the internet.

Automation, however, will also have a huge impact on the number of jobs available to us. Yes, it is historically true that new types of jobs have usually emerged to replace at least some of those left behind by industrial or technological progress.

However, the emergence of "smart industries" may mean that the pace of change is faster than we are expecting and preparing for.

According to a study released by the British House of Lords, as many as 35 percent of the nation's jobs may be lost to automation in the next twenty years.

People will need help to retrain for new jobs - in entirely different sectors of industry - much more quickly than they do today.

In the near future, governments, businesses and third sector groups will need to work together to provide basic mental healthcare facilities for workers who are becoming redundant.

When workers transition from one form or job to another, they stand to lose more than their income. They often lose comradeship and, most importantly, their sense of story. One study suggests that, on average, it takes two years for people to reinvent a personal narrative, based at least in part around their work.

We cannot necessarily solve problems before they arise. The future is uncertain; its challenges may not be exactly the ones we anticipate, at least in terms of the finer details.

Yet we can begin to learn the basic lessons of how humans might better engage with new technologies - starting with those we now have before us.

In this respect, having selected public spaces shutting down mobile phone signals might not be such a negative development.

School study zones might benefit from blocking systems. Various reputable studies have revealed that attention spans are being depleted by digital distraction - as are retention rates.

Office boardrooms might also benefit from being digital-free zones. One study suggested that 20 percent of British workers respond to an average of 50 emails each day from their co-workers alone.

Where do they find the time and energy to engage with customers and others outside the enterprise, when their attention is distracted by a constant stream of internal memos?