> For a time, at what may have been the height of the internet’s thrall, it became popular to pretend that the digital and material worlds were continuous—that the “real” one had no special meaning, because cyberspace had become a part of it. That turned out to be wrong. We live in cars and on couches and, separately, we also live on phones. Apple believes it can resolve this conflict—that the digital and material worlds can be merged together—but it has only put the conflict into higher resolution. A headset is a pair of spectacles, but a headset is also a blindfold.
This is a really poignant conclusion, and reflects much of the worry I have about this device category. The more tightly we've integrated the digital and physical worlds the less connected we've become as people. It's showing in our relationships, its showing in our mental health, it's showing in our politics.
At this point, humane technology is technology that gets out of your way as much as possible and let you exist in the real world with real people. From my perspective, further integrating digital experiences into our real lives should not be the goal, the goal should be to achieve the benefits that digital devices bring without actually needing to interact with them.
This is a really poignant conclusion, and reflects much of the worry I have about this device category. The more tightly we've integrated the digital and physical worlds the less connected we've become as people. It's showing in our relationships, its showing in our mental health, it's showing in our politics.
At this point, humane technology is technology that gets out of your way as much as possible and let you exist in the real world with real people. From my perspective, further integrating digital experiences into our real lives should not be the goal, the goal should be to achieve the benefits that digital devices bring without actually needing to interact with them.