A lot happened in 2011. Uprisings across the Arab world, the deaths of Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong-il, earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan, and rioting across the United Kingdom. Yet according to Google, the top global search for 2011 was the Royal Wedding, surprisingly followed by the iPhone 5 and the popular football game FIFA 12, revealing just how technology-obsessed the world has become.

A quick search for the most wanted presents of 2011 revealed, rather unsurprisingly, iPad 2 and Amazon’s latest Kindle. Only last night, my own nine-year-old son asked me for an iPhone (Santa isn’t bringing one by the way) and according to The Guardian, the great war of 2012—for the future of the innovation economy—will be among Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon.

So where is this all heading? I’ve been wondering about it and am becoming increasingly uneasy about our children’s lives, our need to keep up, and more importantly, how society will irrevocably change. Indeed, how will we live and consume in the future and will it even be real?

Nowadays nothing can be kept out of the public eye. Upload something onto YouTube that someone doesn’t want you to see and within minutes it’s downloaded, copied, distributed and watched throughout the world. The more ridiculous, the more people want to watch. Privacy is increasingly becoming a redundant word.

Social media services such as Facebook and Twitter allow individuals to share their observations and feeling to their friends throughout the world. However, they also share their views and opinions on companies, brands and the experiences they offer. The consumer has the power to help a brand succeed or fail. So it is interesting to see how many brands blindly jump on the social media bandwagon, putting themselves out there without thinking about the consequences. While there can be huge rewards to the right brand at the right time, there are times when it may be inappropriate. Advice about when not to do something will be as powerful as being advised when to do something. After all, a company’s reputation is fragile, and can impact its share price much more quickly than normal tangible business practices.

In the United Kingdom, Channel 4 has just broadcast Black Mirror, a three-part television drama series created by Charlie Brooker. The series provides possible futures for us to consider, and it is rather scary. Brooker remarks, "If technology is a drug—and it does feel like a drug—then what, precisely, are the side-effects? This area—between delight and discomfort—is where Black Mirror is set. The ‘black mirror’ of the title is the one you'll find on every wall, on every desk, in the palm of every hand: the cold, shiny screen of a TV, a monitor, a smartphone."

Having watched Black Mirror I’m concerned about the future. When we are building brands in this hyper-active, 24/7 digital world we must have absolute conviction in what we do and take responsibility for our actions. Once something goes live, it cannot be taken back. Be careful.

Piers Guilar is a group director for the Siegel+Gale London office.