Harmonious tech
Weâve crossed a point of no return with technology.
We can no longer live without it. Yet somehow, it also seems like we canât quite live with it.
What I mean is that the tech we rely on1 has this way of holding us back from fully living our lives. Perhaps a better way of putting it is that we donât live in harmony with technology.
Harmony (n.): A relationship in which various components exist together without destroying one another.
I suspect this is an insight we all know to be true by instinct. We feel it when we sit down to share a meal with our companions, only to realise that no one is fully present in the moment. We feel it too when we have every intention to write, to make art, to leave behind something of permanent value, but instead we find ourselves mindlessly scrolling Twitter.
This trap seems to be unique to technology of the Information Age. We seem to be able to live in harmony with past technologiesâwristwatches, books, or even dogs didn't carry such Faustian bargains, despite the great new powers they gave us.
As you mightâve noticed, thereâs a counter movement brewing. Thereâs now an entire genre of books discussing how to mend our relationship with technology. Companies are capitalising on consumer demand for analog alternatives to their digital counterparts. Prolific creatives like Ed Sheeran and Aziz Ansari are putting guardrails around their own tech use.
âI havenât had a phone since 2015⌠I got really, really overwhelmed and sad with the phone. I just spent my whole time just in a very low place. I got rid of it and it was like a veil just lifted.â â Ed Sheeran, in an interview
Crap, this all sounds pretty bleak. So what now?
The techno-optimist in me refuses to believe that it needs to be this way. Technology doesnât spawn out of thin air fully formed. No, theyâre created, bit by bit, by technologists.
The genius of Steve Jobs was that he demystified the personal computer for the average consumer, at a time when there was a fundamental fear that computers may take over too much of modern life. He called the Apple II a âdomesticated computerâ and analogised it to tools that people understood, like typewriters and Cuisinart home appliances. Thatâs what made him a great technologist.
If the challenge of the 1980s was making technology inviting & intuitive, then the challenge of the 2020s and beyond will be making technology harmonious.
Consider this post a call to all technologists everywhere. We should all be asking ourselves:
- Does what weâre making steer us towards a productive and meaningful life? Or might it impede us from one?
- Does it serve its user dutifully? Or could it inadvertently turn him into someone he loathes?
- Over time, will it bring us more joy, clarity, and camaraderie? Or anxiety, distrust, and envy?
I only ask that we figure out technological harmony before we jump straight into the metaverse with hopeless abandon. Please.
When I say âtechnology,â Iâm specifically referring to the narrow definition of products thatâd be associated with Silicon Valley post dot-com era. Think smartphones, social media, consumer apps, the algorithmic âfeedâ, etc. Iâm not talking about the broader definition which includes anything humans invented (e.g. the car, espresso machine, writing). To put a finer line on this, Tim Ferriss made a video called âHow to Use Your Phone⌠So That It Doesnât Use Youâ Replace âPhoneâ here with anything in the former category and itâd still make sense. Yes, the dishwasher is a technology, but âHow to Use Your Dishwasher⌠So That It Doesnât Use Youâ wouldnât much make sense now, would it?↩