Can people’s interactions be truly intimate on social media? How can digital communications be more private? And what happens after chatbots? In this part of the 2017 Expert Outlook series, we speak to three communications experts about what’s changing in the way people interact globally.

People dislike change, often placing a high value on the products they’re used to. But when it comes to the latest smartphone, many will abandon their apprehensions and happily splash out. Canvas8 sat down with Robyn LeBoeuf to understand why people feel the urge to constantly upgrade.

Futurologists – those allegedly able to predict the future – are in high demand from newspapers and major companies keen to see into the coming years. Yet the vast majority of predictions are wrong. What's the appeal of future-gazing? And what might mobilise our visions into the present?

Smartphones are no longer just a means of communicating. They wake us up, get us from A to B and even help us find love. We’ve almost forgotten their original purpose. Text trumps voicecalls and apps trump SMS – it’s a good time to ask – what’s the future of the mobile phone?