Selective Technology and our Future

If you look around at people today (in virtually any public place) it seems that you’ll see at least one iPhone or similar device. If you ask around, you’ll find that most of the people you know probably have a Facebook account or similar social networking profile. And if you generally observe societal trends and compare our attitudes to those of just a couple of years ago, I think it’s fairly obvious that people have moved toward a more technologically-centered way of life.

It not just for the “essentials” – as the move to technology might have been defined in the 1950′s, for instance. In that time, consumer technology was more oriented toward essential devices to help in day-to-day tasks. Think: washing machines, electric shavers, and such.

Today is even different when compared with the 1980′s or 1990′s. In those times, technology was used for “better” versions of what already existed. For instance, a CD player instead of a record or tape player or a big screen TV instead of a normal-sized one. These were items that were nice to have, and while they weren’t rare or unheard of, they weren’t too common or everyday.

In the last couple of years, technology has become just that: common. In the sense that it’s a “given” part of our lives. Now, it seems that everyone has a cellphone – and not just a device that makes calls. More like a mini computer. It’s common to have more than one computer in the home (counting laptops). Flat-screen TVs are a normal consumer good. And everyone is “online”.

This can be a good or a bad thing. It’s a “good” thing because it shows how technology has advanced and is evidence of humankind’s technological prowess and progress. It’s “bad” because it means we (as a society) have become reliant on our gadgets in many ways. It means we’ve become less social (as in, we aren’t “connected” with the real people standing next to us as people in the past were forced to do). It also means we’re living in a largely restructured society with some artificial aspects that center on specific devices and technologies.

I think it’s hard for the “mass” of people to see things this way right now, but I believe in the near future there will be a backlash against our habits of staring at our iPhones and sitting in front of our Xboxes night after night. People won’t give up their technology, but I think people will naturally have a desire to experience life like it used to be – and there will be a movement toward “Selective Technology” instead of mass consumerism and mass adoption of the latest and “greatest” gadgets.

Here’s what I expect to see become popular, as a result:

• Rediscovery of “old skills” such as making things
• Adoption of “old philosophies” such as thrift and “do-it-yourself”
• An awareness of the need for more close-knit societal interactions (such as would be found in small-town life in the past)
• Growing and cooking your own food – and rejecting corporate “food” products
• Fixing and/or even making tools and gadgets yourself (Popular Mechanics-type stuff)

I don’t see how we can sustain the habits we have gotten used to in our recent past. It’s not going to end – people still will enjoy video games, cool devices, and the latest developments – but I think we will be more choosey in how much of it we bring into our daily routine, in favor of experiencing life like it should be experienced.

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