Challenges for dietitians in a high tech/high touch society

In our society, the coming decades will represent a period of great change and transition. Dietitians will come to realize that we have moved from an industrial to an information society. We are moving in the dual direction of high tech/high touch, matching each new technology with a compensatory human response. Institutional help will be replaced by self-reliance in all aspects of our lives. People whose lives are affected by a decision must be part of the process of arriving at that decision. We are giving up our dependence on hierarchical structures in favor of informal networks. For dietitians to prosper in this era of rapid technological change, they must more than keep pace; they must stay ahead, exploit technology aggressively and imaginatively, and apply it experimentally to new ideas.