Souring on technology

I’ve fallen out of love with my devices

I’VE been writing about the technology industry for much of this decade, and now I have an awkward admission: I’ve fallen out of love with technology.

I’ve never been a gadget nerd, but I also remember vividly the first time I tried the original iPod and YouTube and wondered why these magical things hadn’t existed before. And when I moved to the Bay Area about six years ago the pernicious effects of personal information concentrated in the hands of a few companies, about robots taking human jobs and about technology addiction.

Ten years after the release of the first iPhone, we’re over the initial wonder of it all and are beginning to grapple with how smartphones affect our communities, our personal safety and basic human interaction. One example: I was gobsmacked by a recent NPR piece about schools that are teaching

TECH

smartphone-addicted young people how to have loving relationships IRL (“in real life”) and coaching them to ask people out on dates face-to-face. Then there’s iGen, a generation of young people who have grown up with smartphones and are “on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades,” according to a September excerpt in the Atlantic from Jean M. Twenge’s book, “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy — and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood — and What That Means for the Rest of Us.”

If more people begin to focus on the drawbacks of technology, it could have lasting consequences for the economy and for tech companies’ bottom lines. Emerging trends, including self-driving cars and digitizing health care, could be a boon to our country, but they require the trust of governments and citizens that these innovations will help more than they hurt. That trust might be in short supply in coming years.

It’s true that the tech industry is no stranger to skepticism about the harmful effects of their products or the irresponsibility of the people and companies behind it. Just a few years ago, leaks from Edward Snowden detailed how U.S. intelligence agencies use or abuse personal information from technology companies. I thought that would spark a sustained cri de coeur about tech companies as powerful puppet masters of personal information, but the outrage didn’t last.

This time feels different. When the unlikely trio of early Facebook backer Sean Parker, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and European bureaucrats are all talking about the harmful effects of technology or big tech companies, that is a sign of the times. Think about how much hot water the big tech companies have been in this year — and that’s when they are well liked by most Americans.

If, like me, more people fall out of love with technology, it’s going to get even uglier.

Tim Brinton

Gary Markstein Creators Syndicate