It’s Not About the Technology, and This Isn’t the Jetsons

Let me paint a picture for you that, despite the snark, is not an exaggeration:

At a conference I attended recently, a speaker made the legitimate and important point that technology–particularly broadband–should be included in our definition of “infrastructure.”  In order to illustrate this point, and the potential economic boom that virtual commuting represents for rural communities, we watched a video…featuring a family that was unrecognizable to even the most tech savvy people in the room.

Look, it’s Dad on his Bluetooth headset in the kitchen.  Mixing fruit salad as he talks to his colleagues in NY or Atlanta.  It’s a snow day, but instead of sledding or starting a snowball fight, little Johnny and Susie are downloading their assignments from the web, listening to 7th grade history lectures on podcasts, and exercising on the treadmill.  They’re even (gasp!) attending class in a virtual world reminiscent of Second Life.  All the while Dad is locked in his office working remotely while Mom places inventory orders for her small business.

Here’s my issue.  Nobody–and I mean nobody–loses sleep over the question of what their children will do if they can’t access their school work on a snow day. Likewise, though many of us imagine working primarily from a home office some day, that vision maintains some semblance of connection to our current lived experience: leaving the house, interacting offline with friends and peers, and (you guessed it) PLAYING OUTSIDE IN THE SNOW.

People see this sort of technologically-dominated futurecasting and become overwhelmed by the disconnect, seemingly caused (worsened?) by technology, between their lives and this vision!  Because when the focal point is the shiny gadget and the slick interface, we’re not solving problems anymore.

Technology is more integrated into our lives now than we could have ever realistically imagined 20 years ago.  Yet, instead of recognizing how current and emerging technologies can help us accomplish great things, we’re  still wasting energy trying to figure out why our lives don’t resemble EPCOT and the Jetsons.

If eight years ago, instead of presenting a vision of Segues and cryogenic freezing, I told you that you would soon have access to email, a virtually limitless rolodex of contacts, and a calendar that updated in real time–all in a device no larger than a deck of cards–would that have sounded attractive?  If I told you 5 years ago that you would soon have access to all of your documents from any computer with an internet connection, could you have imagined that convenience?

Yes.  Because everyone knows how it feels to be away from your desk when important emails need to be sent or received; to be on the road without a needed phone number; to show up at a meeting that was canceled after you left the house 4 hours ago.  Everyone’s experienced the dread of realizing that the document you need is on another hard drive.  These are widespread inconveniences, and when you show someone an easy solution to one of these problems they say “when can I have it?”

Technological change that demands keeping up with the latest gizmos and learning fancy, complex new interfaces is terrifying to folks who are trying to make their lives EASIER.  When, on the other hand, technology enables a core need to be met in a simpler way (think of how few voicemails many of us listen to now that email and text messages are so widespread), people can be coaxed into learning. It is our job as early adopters to make those connections, and to drive the conversation from “look at my cool new toy” to “watch how easily I can do X, Y, Z with this new tool.”

I feel a keen passion for technological innovation and big dreams, countered by doubt that those who are intentionally focused on envisioning the ideal future from a technological perspective are clueless to the needs and desires of non-geeks (I say this as a proud geek).

Take this recently-released Microsoft video that promises “a glimpse ahead” to 2019:

Unlike the first video I mentioned, this at least touches on common problems we encounter in our day to day lives, including:

• the hassle of a wallet full of credit cards, licenses, insurance cards, etc
• the inconvenience of any visit to a physician using paper records and sending off lab work that takes hours
• the difficulty of efficiently finding what you need in a Target or similar store
• the annoying process of transferring files from one computer to another

Just don’t blink, or you’ll miss an exciting glimpse at possible solutions in a sea of seemingly omnipresent touchscreens, advertising that bombards individuals in an invasive way, and solutions to many problems you can’t imagine encountering such as “I really wish I could draw a puppy on this coffee shop window using only my finger.”

I don’t want to say that we shouldn’t be bold in our visions for how technology will play into our lives in the future.  There’s a place for that.  But it’s indulgent, and in the short term might cause the real idea here–that technology is one piece of the solution to many things, not THE solution to anything–to fall on deaf ears.

In short: less Disney, please.  EPCOT just seems kind of pathetic these days.

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user space.Boy.