Tools vs Toys

I am not a Luddite, no matter what my children say. What I do object to is this bizarre belief that all new developments in technology are good and necessary, or even useful.

In an article titled, “The Myth of Inevitable Technological Progress” or “The biggest lie tech people tell themselves — and the rest of us,” Rose Eveleth says

There’s a growing chasm between how everyday users feel about the technology around them and how companies decide what to make. And yet, these companies say they have our best interests in mind. We can’t go back, they say. We can’t stop the “natural evolution of technology.” But the “natural evolution of technology” was never a thing to begin with, and it’s time to question what “progress” actually means.

Retrieved 19.10.24 from https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/10/1/20887003/tech-technology-evolution-natural-inevitable-ethics

I went to a high school in California that is and always has been unique. Among its core values is the emphasis on needs over wants. While my indoctrination may have been a little too emphatic, I truly believe that knowing what is necessary is almost a dying art. My son is always urging me to get a “better” phone. My argument – this one does everything I need it to – seems not to carry any weight. I acknowledge that I will need to get another phone eventually if only because I can’t upgrade to a reasonably recent Android version without, as they say, bricking it.

So what does this all have to do with Technical Communication, I hear you cry? I’m not sure, except that I feel it’s a little too easy to assume that all these wonderful programs will do the actual work for us. Spell check, grammar check (Word now checks my writing for conciseness, can you imagine?), all the various assistants, none of those really takes the place of a human being actually proofreading. If you read a sentence to yourself (or even out loud, what do I care?), does it make sense as it stands? Does it convey the meaning you intended? For that matter, when you design a poster, does it catch the eye, tell the viewer what they need to know, make an impression? (There’s an annoying trend in the advertising of space, where they announce, “You’ve just proved <bench> advertising works!” Every time I see a sign like that, I want to yell back, “All I’ve proved is that I can read!!”)

I like the tools we have and I’m even beginning to see uses for social media. And, Technical Boy knows, I love Goooooogle. But I think we need to remember that tools are just that, they are not an end in themselves. Creating a blog in WordPress, with the fancy themes and all the bells and whistles, is pretty cool. But ain’t nobody gonna write this but me.

P.S. I did want to add this little plug for a tool that I’ve found increasingly useful. It’s called Pocket (formerly known as Read-it-Later) and, if you do any research or even reading online, it’s incredibly helpful. Thank you to Jason Chu for recommending it.