Consumer electronics simply don’t matter; they do not improve quality or standard of life. In fact, they make it worse because people ‘cocoon’ themselves in their houses, have no social contact, and get fat. Neighbourhoods and businesses decline. The social fabric thins.

I’d rather focus on having technology where it matters; in hospitals, in our transport systems. And not any old technology either. Constantly upgrading systems means constant churn, effort, and disruption. The approach to technology upgrades needs to be careful and considered if the churn is not to overwhelm the benefit.

Which leads me to leisure time and technology. If all this technology is so ‘woot!’, then why is leisure time decreasing? It’s because most technology is inefficiently applied, or is applied to doing things that probably shouldn’t be done anyway (most of the financial services industry comes to mind).

All in all, technology stinks. Turn off the TV, delete your Facebook account, turn off the computer, and go and do something that doesn’t involve staring at a screen. Living through a screen is not living at all.

This is why complicated consumer devices that need constant care and feeding are called ‘technology’, but plain old telephones aren’t. Plain old telephones were once super-advanced and unreliable. Now they just work, and if they don’t work, then they’re broken. Not misconfigured… not incompatible… just broken.

This is why it’s often best to wait until people stop calling a thing ‘technology’ before adopting it.

Luckily, for some people (like me), computers are reaching this level. For what I use my computer for, a 6 year old one works as well as a brand new one. The only reason I got rid of my 6 year old computer last year was because my mother wanted it.

I guess the point is, our culture simply doesn’t place the same value in the incremental value of technology that other cultures do. That, and in many cases the cost of our technology (i.e. the higher cost of mobile in NA versus other countries), forces us to make the trade-off.

Makes perfect sense…but I find myself defending our Luddite habits – not as anti-technologists, but as frugal spenders. The reason both of us have 4-year-old PCs is that we don’t want to part with the money to gain the incremental benefit.

Why is it that we as a culture prefer to minimize our expenditures rather than stay current with technology? Perhaps more interestingly, what about these specific Asian cultures (South Korean, Singapore, Japan) leads Asian consumers to choose differently?

Write on, friend!
Vince

In fact I’d argue that they lower it.

For instance why would I pay for the latest HD LCD tv when it’s going to quadruple my cable bill. Then with that fancy new screen I need to get a gaming device, enhance the streaming to all my connected gadgetry which are all clamoring for monthly payments.

It’s interesting that the easiest way to increase my cashflow is by eliminating my ‘need’ of these pesky material devices that pressure me to find yet an even better paying job. Heck it’s the best taxfree pay raise going.

It all feels like pointless cycle, kind of like chasing my own tail.

Perhaps what we need to spur earlier adoption in this country is greater exposure to other countries like Japan and how advanced they are in comparison to us. That would likely cause a bit of clamoring amongst the public, hopefully persuading companies to import more “advanced” electronics.