When was the last time you truly felt in control of things? For me, I've long since become conscious of the fact that I really haven't been in control. My entire life has been spoon fed to me, right down to my usage of my technology.
Sounds odd, doesn't it? Humans use technology. We control it. We harness its power and make it ours.
But do we really do this? Is the power of technology really our own? We are encouraged to harness the powers of 'user control' but what is that, really?
Take for example, TiVo. Sure, you tell it what to record for the first little while, but then, it starts learning your preferences and then chooses for you. So in a sense, we are given the semblance of control, only to have that control then wrested from our grasp.
So then, why do we still believe we are in control? Because of the marketing of concepts like Apple's 'i' line of goods. the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad. The 'i' signifies the user, granting them the illusion that the product is theirs to manipulate as they see fit.
No comments:
Post a Comment