Best and Worst of Times
Working with my clients on tech issues day in and day out, I usually take for granted all the various ways IT has wormed its way into every nook and cranny of our lives, regardless of one's age or occupation or lifestyle.
The way we were
However, this ever-present IT condition is quite noticeable in contrast to the way things were at the end of the 20th century. When you watch movies from the 80s and 90s you can't help but notice how "antiquated" the IT stuff seems. We are also reminded that cell phones were used primarily by business executives, government VIPs, or spies!
Nowadays anywhere you go you see smartphones in use by kids from one to 92. Handling a smartphone typically means using Internet apps or texting, and not so much talking. I expect these devices won't be called phones much longer.
Tail wags the dog
So, it's a sign of the times that smartphones are ubiquitous. It's also a sign that nearly every home I visit has Internet and Wi-Fi, however rural. And it's the case that we can't stand to not know some little obscure factoid anymore - we have to Google it right away! The tail is indeed wagging the dog, meaning tech is running our lives.
Hooked on the vids
Sure, tech keeps me in business and has many valuable uses. That's obvious. And as much as we complain about the times our tech doesn't work, we truly revel in it when it does. Some of my clients in their 70s and 80s are hooked on watching Netflix and other streaming video services nightly. When their streaming device goes down, they are not happy campers. They miss their video fix!
Speaking of which, one of my clients recently suffered an outage on his steaming device and remarked that he and his wife had an actual conversation the night it was down. That's funny, and head shaking, and startling. What kind of creatures are we turning into?
No one is safe
The other sign-of-the times issue is the escalating cybersecurity concerns. Company's large and small are being hacked, which for us means our data is exploited. This translates to our financial accounts, emails, passwords, personal and private information, lifestyle habits, etc. being used for nefarious purposes. And when we get hacked on our home systems the perpetrators can even erase our precious files, such as family photos.
Human-ish?
It's the best of times and the worst of times, truly. And now AI (artificial intelligence) is looming as a promising problem-solving partner and a creepy concept. How will we know we're thinking for ourselves anymore while we're streaming so much information to our brains from various computer resources?
Love thy planet!
As it's the new year, I'll propose a toast to all the counter-culture movements out there that may just keep humans alert to being fully duped by our tech overlords. Let's be mindful that information technology is only a tool. We still need the human mind and heart to be appreciative of our special planet in order to guide all things tech, including AI, to work on more noble pursuits than addicting our vulnerable brains to technologically abstracted reality. Though that is fun...
Thanks for reading!
-Sam
