On the Toxic Wonder of Technology

“If technology is a drug – and it does feel like a drug – then what, precisely, are the side-effects?”

-Charlie Brooker, The Guardian

Daniel Kaluuya and Jessica Brown Findlay in Channel 4’s Black Mirror.

 

I recently discovered the marvelously provocative British drama Black Mirror, written and conceived by Charlie Brooker. Every episode features a different cast and setting and focuses on the deeper impact a piece of technology can have on human experience. The ability to replay every memory on a screen or resurrect a spouse from messaging and records sounds quite fine on paper, but how does it exacerbate a marital spat or numb the grieving process? At the end of the day, every piece of technology is a tool, and it falls to us how we will use or misuse it.

 

Times have changed. We’re living in *the future*, though, of course, we’ve always been in someone’s “future”. Technology has become this weirdly unifying tool that bridges long distances, heals divides, simplifies experience. Just now, ten different people in ten different places collectively laughed/grimaced/grinned watching a cat play with an ipad. We are simultaneously more like our true selves and less so online, in a forum, on a comment thread, wherein we are represented solely by words and increasingly-high-definition avatars.

 

On this digital frontier, no one is truly in control. Brooker says, “[T]hat’s the promise of technology, isn’t it? It is supposed to help us control our lives, but it ends up controlling us.” I buy a phone so I can talk to people, then stare at my screen and talk even less to the people around me. On a whim I buy a gorgeous car so I can drive to work in style and I find myself fretting over every smudge and scratch. In the end, who owns whom?

 

This indentured servitude is a by-product of the “always-on” mentality. Our newsfeeds never stop updating; we never stop checking our social media or checking in with friends. We are always online or at work or with friends, and always engaged in something: the prime evil, we tell ourselves, is to slow down and stop. The smiling god of productivity demands not a sacrifice of time, but of rest. We allow our passions to converge and be stored in a smartphone or internet account and it becomes our crutch, our grail. We become addicted to technological connection because it has become the means by which we exercise our passions to love, to succeed, to learn.

 

As with any rapidly-developing new thing, it is our responsibility to learn good stewardship. Every piece of tech is just that: a tool created to serve something greater. I type a web address so I can book a flight to my friend’s wedding; I plug in a webcam to chat with my sister. The toxic wonder of boxed circuits and high definition screens is balanced by technology’s ability to facilitate true connection. And whether we manufacture, program, market or consume tech it is important to bear in mind that these faux-magical toys we use to live, work and love are simply a means, not an end.

 

*****

 

Liferay: Nerd On The Street is a blog devoted to sharing new ideas about life, business and technology. To continue the discussion, post your thoughtful insights below.

[André Ricardo Barreto de Oliveira]

I love Black Mirror. Julio Camarero from Liferay Spain introduced it to me. I wish Charlie Brooker would make more, there's so many technology and behavior trends could be deconstructed like that. We watched Fifteen Million Merits together in the Recife office, and as expected, everybody was speechless ;-)

In an ironic twist, I will now be hooked to my electronic devices waiting for more blogs from you :-D