Ideas on Tech Zen
I want to take a moment to remind everyone why I use technology, because I recently had to remind myself. By no means am I trying to make myself out to be a crusader for a generation of “gadget guys and gals,” in fact It’s taken me quite a while to finally come to understand how I feel about the amazing technological evolution that has taken place in the past 30 years. Bare in mind that my ideas are broad, and therefore may feel unfocused, but I do think that I’m writing about something worth discussing.
I, like many people in my generation, have been a consumer of technology of all ilk for a long time. Things like computers, smart phones, search engines, laptops, tablets, social networks, touch screens, joysticks, posts, likes, “friends,” tweets, links, blogs and bookmarks, have inevitably led me to a life of HD, 3D, SD, VGA, USB powered, Firewire lit, Thunderbolt struck, optical, blu-ray, blu-tooth interactions that have taken my attention away from things that are really important. I also don’t believe that I am alone.
We spend our time on earth looking for answers to questions. Why are we here, what will happen to us in the end, those are the big ones. But on a moment-to-moment basis, we are all a collection of small questions. What time is it? Where can I get that information? What decision will I make? Basically we want to know how we should live our lives, and how we can be happy. The real question I asked myself in a sea of devices, and choices was this: Can technology make me happy?
It made me realize that maybe; the purpose of technology is not to give me more choices, but to give me clarity in all that I do. So I’ve made some decisions about my use of technology that I hope will help me find clarity. They’re not a strict rulebook, nor are they something one must believe in to understand. They are simply to help me remove complications in life, give conveniences real value, and help me live in a way that leads to happiness in my everyday life. Here are the ideas I’m exploring:
- Use technology to make life simpler, not more complicated.
- Make each device you own have at least one thing that it does better than any other device you own.
- Remove distractions and concentrate on the fewest possible things at any given time.
- Appreciate others choices in their technology.
- Keep your environment out of the way of your devices.
- Only purchase technology you will use, remove that which you don’t.
- Embrace technology’s limitations, and communicate through it not because it suits you, but it suits the content, and the situation.
- Be a resource for others to help them understand technology.
This list is not written in stone, nor will it be the final version of these ideas, of that I’m sure. But I know that it’s some place to start, and that’s all I need at this point in life. If you feel like your technology spends more time ruling you than you do your technology, you may be in the same place as me. I welcome you to embrace these ideas, and share your own.
My behavior is my own fault, and is the culture that I’ve become accustom to. My desire to have what’s new, and what’s popular takes it’s toll on the environment, on other peoples lives on the other side of the world, and on my wallet, that coupled with the modus operandi of my generation’s interaction with each other become one that exists through IM, text message, and Facebook and twitter only is not sustainable. It makes us uneasy to respond to emotional situations, it brings us together in a unique way that makes us more detached from one another than ever before. This isn’t what living as a human is suppose to be about. Life is about real world relationships, not about how many Facebook friends I have.
I’m not being critical of users of social media, and I’m certainly living in the same glass house, adding friends, checking tweets, writing messages. There was a point where I knew peoples relationship statuses because I genuinely cared what their relationship status was, they were my friend, and that friendship mattered and was more real than the “friends” I have today. Online friends, followers, and contacts are more of a fashion statement than a reflection of how good of a friend or colleague you are. It also wasn’t too long ago that we deemed someone as a friend because of the relationship that we developed, not because it was an expected end result of a brief social encounter.
Though things haven’t changed much from our history, people still want to know who you know, what clubs you’re a member of, and if you can help them get ahead, but instead of measuring a person based on your interaction with them in person, we simply size them up based upon information we read off of a glowing rectangle that we pay our cable companies in order to ensure that we can read that information. With light of all this one cannot help but ponder “Is this the future?” and if it is, then is it one we’re proud to be a part of?
So you own 20 things that can stream Netflix, hulu, Xfinity, and more right in front of your face so you can watch whatever you want whenever you want. What I’ve come to realize is that I don’t care that I can do that, I care about the experience of sharing that entertainment with people whom I care about. Even the term “friends” and “followers” are a perversion of our language from something meaningful to something meaningless. There are corporations now that want to be your “friend” or want you to “follow” them. What they really want is another number to advertise to, and more insight into what demographics are interested in their products and services. Furthermore, by having access to the same tools as these huge companies, haven’t each of us in a way become our own personal corporations? Watching who follows and unfollows us, checking klout scores, and trying to get people to engage with us with no benefit to them whatsoever.
By the way, in case you’re not familiar with the term, here is what the Oxford English Dictionary calls a friend:
friend |frend|
nouna person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.
What is unusual to me is that today, we don’t consider this to be the definition of the word, rather friend has become more like a casual acquaintance. Really a friend is someone who has managed to gain a place in my affections, and who I certainly have a bond with. So I’m sorry to offend most of the people I’ve met in my life, but we should be frank here. I may be friendly with you, but you are not my friends, and that’s not a bad thing. I event went through the trouble of asking strangers what value they placed in their “friends” and not one person was able to give an emotional and meaningful answer. When did we stop feeling?
So, what do I own, and why do I own it? Because bare in mind, I’m not a monk, nor am I preaching that one live sparsely. I own a PS3, an HD TV, an Apple TV, an Xbox 360, a computer, a smartphone, and a tablet. I’ve listed these things and found clear areas where they overlap each other, but each of these devices offers something the others simply cannot, but ensuring that I don’t use them all the time, by walking away from the glowing rectangular monoliths that surround me, it helps remind me that we aren’t suppose to live inside of them, we are suppose to use them to make the world we inhabit a better place. We use to them to bring our ideas to life, and to teach us things we didn’t know before, and to expose us to unique experiences that shape our own ideas and help us generate new ones.
Being able to find clarity and happiness isn’t a new idea, but it is one that’s seems in juxtaposition with the world we live in. There are a million companies, people, and products, that are vying for your attention throughout your day. I don’t know how to stop them, and I don’t think I could if I wanted to. It’s a noisy world, and I think it’s my responsibility to let people know what I stand for. Those who know me in person know that I don’t miss opportunities to share my thoughts and opinions, and also welcome debate of my beliefs, If I knew I had the answers to everything, I would have no need to interact with anyone.
So to the readers of this, I hope that you’re lucky enough to have true friends. One’s who are important enough to you that you can reach out to in person, pat on the back, laugh, adventure, and dine with. These are the people worthy of your trust, and these are the people worth spending time with. Make the right decisions about your life, and how you want to be known. I, for one, want to remembered by my actions away from a computer desk, and be recognized by my accomplishments that didn’t happen because I pushed the right button, bought the right device, or had enough “friends” or “followers.”
Being able to be creative, maintain my sense of wonder for new things, and building great relationships is what I want to do, and it’s with clarity of my mind that will help me achieve that happiness. In the meantime, I’m just a designer.
