Technology gone mad!

Time for a whinge!

The mantra of manufacturers these days is that: If something else is possible with our product we will include it. No piece of equipment does solely what it is meant to do. For example, I was born before WW2 when telephones were simply a means to communicate with others who also possessed a telephone. If the person you rang was not available, or the line was occupied by another caller, no conversation took place. No message could be left, you just tried again later, Compare that situation with possessing a modern mobile phone, a piece of equipment that seems to be designed to do everything but simply communicate in real time. The result of owning one of these multi-functional geegaws is having to spend large amounts of time learning and remembering which app to use, and even more time scrolling through text messages, emails, videos and photos of the cute cat next door and the granddaughter’s birthday cake. I am very relieved to have lost my mobile (note that inevitably the word ‘phone’ has been abandoned).

And then there is the microwave, a simple valuable invention that was useful for reheating meals and occasional drinks. Recently I was confronted by a more ‘modern’ version that does everything possible to food except grow it. There are innumerable options, each with its own visual ‘button’ to be pressed, a choice of different power levels, and a thick manual that would grace a university course. Again, large amounts of time could be spent on learning all the functions, what the pictures mean and how to drive this monster, when all I want to do is heat up a cup of cold coffee.

It’s a little like the expensive penknife which one yearned to own when I was a callow youth. A multifunctional tool which was claimed to be not only a knife, but also a screwdriver, bottle opener, spanner, toothpick, saw, and spike for taking stones out of horse’s hooves. The ensemble was heavy, bulky and difficult to use especially after one had managed to break a nail unfolding the appropriate bit . A good idea perhaps, but no substitute for separate individual tools. Keep it simple stupid!