Our Tools Have Outgrown Us

Human ability to create devices that are more usable for completing tasks than one’s own body was from the beginning of our species ultimate advantage over other animals. While some of the smarter ones, like chimps, octopuses, or sea otters use primitive tools, they mostly use what’s already there. They just find the usage for a neat stick, a rock or a sponge. Humans on the other hand, are masters in adapting what they find to their needs and even creating things that are nearly impossible to imagine to solve their problems. This is how we came up with the knives, wheels, lamps, later engines, light bulbs and typewriters.

However, for the longest time, tools had very limited affordances (An affordance is an action possibility in the relation between user and an object. ~ Interaction-design.org). That means, even the most versatile tools usually had just a few ways in which they could be used to solve different problems. There wasn’t anything unusual about it – it seems a notable observation only when looking backwards from today’s point of view.

But all of this has changed with the rise of information era. The computers have become the ultimate tools. Ones that are used for solving every problem. Right now, computers and internet are all we know. We have microprocessors on our wrists, in our pockets, in our washing machines, fridges and all screens around us. And we use them for everything. Starting with truly marvellous things – like sending rockets into outer space, allowing for realtime video communication between continents, or making magic wishes after which either taxi or dinner spawns in front of our home, through more casual ones – like paper-less note-taking, work-related stuff, checking weather, all the way down to entertaining ourselves beyond the point of our cognitive ability.

And that is, where the problem starts. Our tools have changed. Our tools become everything, everywhere, at all times. You can’t just read a book right now. Your book is a book. But it’s also any newspaper you want. And the radio. Television. Fuck that, it’s the camera, cinema, art gallery, game console, your mailbox, work spreadsheet, and the playboy magazine, if you fancy it. It’s everything. Most importantly, it’s the slot machine, one which can give you something new every time you look at it.

For thousands of years information was priced just between the gold, diamonds and life. Having new information meant having status and edge over the others. And we are wired in this way we like it or not. But as the world has changed, the actual value of most pieces of information decreased heavily, leaving us with badly calibrated instincts that guide us wrong. So we have to act in contradiction to what’s encoded in your subconscious to actually get ahead and not be left paralysed from information oversupply and general overstimulation.

In the old times, when you grabbed a book and wanted to learn something, you of course could get bored if the book wasn’t written in very appealing way. But you weren’t just one swipe away from turning the book into your personal cinema, that can play any movie that was ever produced. You couldn’t just get the POV of being at the concert of your favourite band. You finally couldn’t play all the possible games on your book in quality so immersive, you nearly think you’re “there”. On the other hand – you probably couldn’t get your hands on every book on the planet from the comfort of your bedroom. And definietely, you couldn’t get easy access to big-name thought leaders, experts and otherwise experienced people just with a few clicks.

I don’t want to one-sidedly say that this is just wrong and we are in the worse position. Truth is, just because of how much we got, the burden of responsibility to use it right lies on us. We have more than ever – but it’s more difficult than ever to make use out of this abundance. And this is the problem of our times. We need to be more conscious about choosing what we do. Our tools, created with the grand idea of making what we considered valuable easier and more approachable, also created invisible barriers to engage in these exact activities.

Can we actually do something about this? This is where true analysis stops and my personal opinions appear. I think many people feel that they are in here for something more than mindless, vegetative entertainment. A lot of people want more quality connection with others, want to be present around other people and give them the best of themselves, no matter if it’s about their friends, family or coworkers. I believe some people also want to grow personally and career-wise, doing hobby-projects, creating art, learning languages, and starting new businesses.

In all these goals, the common problem is the right headspace. Neither of these can be accomplished, if someone is chronically tired, overstimulated, and stripped of all patience by our machines of instant gratification. Even access to the best information won’t change that. I believe we’re close to some kind of tipping point. Mobile screen times are rising every year and it seems that there’s not much left for other activities. Rapidly expanding attention economy model with it’s mobile devices, content creators, behaviour analysts, UX designers and conversion optimization seems to be at the center of the problem.

Some radical movements can be observed, where people completely turn away from their phones and try to live more peaceful, less-digital life, but I see these as common contrarians, who instead of real progress praise just striping ourselves of newly acquired abilities, for the reward of peace of mind. I believe true progress doesn’t look like that. There will be technological solutions, that will enable us to both use all the tech-caused advancements, like high connectivity, higher productivity, instant information retrieval and digital immersion, without of side-effects of overstimulation, content and social media addiction and social-media caused depression. They have to come, as people start to notice mentioned problems widely and are more and more affected by them. What it will be? I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s just around the corner. In one of the next posts in here I’ll try to dig deeper into what’s already out there to try and fix these problems.