Choices

Choices

Technology is good. Mindless technology is not so. As human beings, we have to step back and see whether we have grown and evolved and are happy with our choices. Are we happy when choices go away from us? In good old economic theory there is primacy of consumer choice. This means, given our lifestyles, different experiences and age, we should try and enjoy life based on our choices.

I am personally very pro digitalization and progress. I am not however in line with some of the narrow-minded approach of tech programmers who have little conception of choice. A huge gap is being deliberately created between not only generations, but even those who are just a few years apart. If the sub 25 generation is splurging (on dad’s money) on the latest cell phones or the latest games then, it doesn’t matter if products are just disappearing from the racks for the vast majority of human beings.

I continue to like CDs and vinyl for many reasons. Other than a great sound, it has great cover art, liner notes, lyrics and it is to my taste. It is not a tech storage mechanism and it doesn’t sit on the cloud. But, since many download music from digital platforms, CDs have disappeared from physical shops and I do not have the pleasure of browsing through music for hours, listen to them and select. You are dumb they say. Use Spotify and forget it. Hang on. So, you’ve taken my choice away from me. Shops do not sell CDs any more. Many bookshops have closed because books and music are not there anymore. My favorite shops in New York, Mumbai or London have closed. The choices have gone.

During the pandemic people had to use video conferences and meetings. This was not because that was the best option, but because we were all forced into it. The tech industry thought that it would become the norm and ‘everyone’ would accept the new norm, just like work from home became a norm without considering the side effects. They didn’t realize that it was a second-best solution. Now that the pandemic era is gone, Tech wants to desperately hold on to norms of the past.

I was invited to a banking conference in Dubai organized by tech people. Everything in that conference, from entertainment to the main body of discussions and even asking questions was digitized. Here is an in-person conference and the audience had to scan screens and register questions and answers. Someone should have told the organizers that they should have kept it to a remote digital conference. In person attendance was not necessary. Can you imagine people facing each other and talking through the use of scans and QR codes. No human interaction is allowed. A Brit was managing the stage. I went and asked if I could ask a question to the panel. He said no, you have to use digitized inputs. I asked him why I had flown in from another country to attend an interactive conference. He thought that it was a strange question.

If you go to a restaurant today, you will not have the pleasure of browsing a colorful menu card and slowly make your choice. You have to scan a QR Code. Ah well, to do that you have to download an app. You have no choice. Everyone wants you to download their apps, thousands of them. Suppose you are not carrying your cell phone. Well, don’t eat then. The simple pleasures of looking at menus and eating at restaurants have gone away.

The thing is that our basic choices are being taken away. You are either fully digital or you can go to the deep depths of virtual hell. Books, music, papers are all gone. When we were growing up, physical sports were a big and enjoyable thing. Now kids hang around their rooms with their cell phones playing video games and having cam sex. They are turning into inward looking atrophied humans. Do we need to follow? Do we have choices?