In this chapter of Geek Heresy, Toyama discusses the idea that technology may not be entirely to blame for our reliance on it. He discusses some of the ways in which technology has instead adapted to our lives and our needs. This has caused our addiction to the technology, and not the other way around.
It is very easy to see a pattern in how we adapt to new technologies. This generally happens in four phases. The first phase involves the recognition of a problem, which leads to the second phase of determining how technology can be used to solve that problem. The third stage involves finding the faults in the technology and either adapting to them or fixing them. And the final stage is the domestication of the technology. In this final phase, the technology is now ordinary and accepted; it is no longer viewed as a threat.
Toyama recognizes these phases and blames our addiction to technology on the fact that these addictive tendencies have been in existence for some time, the technology just amplifies them. He uses an example of a clothing line that itches those who wear the clothes. These clothes won't create demand in the market, and therefore won't sell. Instead of items becoming popular due to their creation of a demand, products become popular because they satisfy a demand in the market that already existed. Technology was and is created to fill a demand, it does not itself create the demand.
I agree with you that once a technology has become domesticated enough that it's ingrained in our lifestyle routines, it no longer appears as a threat to us as media consumers. At this point, we're no longer placing blame on the technology itself for creating our addiction. Maybe it's at this point that we can start to acknowledge our contribution as the consumers to our own digital media/technology addictions.
ReplyDeleteThis is a "double-edged sword" instance. Technology amplifies and often satisfies our desires, so we use even more technology. Then, however, we are too dependent on technology, so we want to fix it, but we usually fix things with technology. We are also less willing to give up technology because it sometimes satisfies our desires.
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