If you’re reading this post, to a certain degree you’re a technophile, gadget lover, or just found me via a search engine (if so, welcome).
If you are a technophile or a gadget lover like me (I’m kinda both), then you’ll find that reading about technology, scoping out your next buy, and of course using your tech are all part of something between a hobby and a lifestyle.
But is there a point where we’ll all get sick of it? I can hear many of you screaming “never!” at me, and I know that it seems insane for a gadget worshipper/blogger to come out with this kind of stuff, but I have reason, too.
Simply put, I think that we’re living in an ever-expanding bubble when we think of technology.
Technology – computing at least – has always been around to a certain degree (there was life before Commodore 64, think ‘abacus’), but the technology world really exploded during the 1960’s to the 1980’s. The microprocessor was born, along with VoIP, floppy diskettes, and dot matrix.
But (for me) the most important thing was that the Altair was born, and the first home computer shipped as a mail-order device for home users, signalling a move toward what we now know as consumer technology.
Fast forward to the present day, and we now have all sorts of technology, with new breeds being created every day. Now, anyone can have a computer, MP3 player, or big-screen TV.
Technology just seemed like the way forward, and has now penetrated every aspect of our lives, with great ideas like the budget XO laptop being flown over to underprivelidged countries abroad.
But when there’s technology for everything, when gadgets are as accurate as can get, when it has been
accepted by most people as a part of their lives, and when we’re used to it just being there all the time, will we get sick of and lose interest, stripping the technology from our lives?
I think we will.
Just like the dotcom bubble burst in the 1990’s, I think we’ll realise we’ve done so much to develop and integrate these new parts of life, that the benefits are outweighed by the annoyyances.
This is the technology paradox; the theory that we will eventually exaust our own interest in developing technology, and thus it will become useless.
If I’m anywhere near right with this theory, it’s a long time away. Many of the technology ills that we already have stem from the fact that technologies are still only emerging (see my article on technology convergence). Alternatively, technology woes mostly come from the soft squidgy bit at the controls (us).
To a certain degree, it’s already happening. The Internet is the biggest perpetrator of this, bringing illegal media sharing, adverts, theft, and other generally bad stuff. That said, it also brought us the ability to network – both socially and otherwise, to shop anytime we want – wherever we want, and to work together on a universally free network that anyone can get access to.
Mobile phones brought us together, but they also brought annoyying ringtones (’Crazy Frog’, anyone?). Laptops gave us the ability to work when and where we need to, but they are also a data security risk. Mobile gaming gadgets like the PSP allow us to kill time, but also isolate us from the world around us.
This theory stems from my other theories about humanity, largely that:
- People cannot be trusted with power most of the time
- Ignorance is indeed bliss, and we all seek it out
- There is’nt really a better or worse; only circumstances that have upsides and balancing downsides
But those are theories for another time, possibly in a book.
I’m not saying I hate technology. I really do love it to bits. But I can’t help feeling like one day – far off in the future – it’ll all fizzle out, and we’ll all be that less connected.
But for now, I think that we’ll continue to expend huge ammounts of time and resources on developing technology, and it will indeed make our lives better, but future generations may not be so enthusiastic.
I’d love to hear what you have to say about this, theories, comments, rants, and critique are all very much encoraged.
Graham.
