The New Silent Majority: Laggards and Luddites
Friday, May 11, 2007
The Economist says that Pew Research says that 49% of adult Americans "are slow or reluctant to embrace new technology because they can't afford it, aren't interested in it, or actually fear and loathe it." I say proudly, and with a sort of fatalistic glint in my eye, I am one of them.
I stand side by side with that new silent majority who, when reading that 48% of people welcome information communication technology (ICT) for helping them gain greater control over their lives, responds "really?"
You don't hear us much because our blogs only have one post from 2003 or got shut down by the bureau, but we're real and we're terrified. A couple decades ago they talked about the go-go 80s, but who's ever hurtled faster into a lesser defined future than us? I mean those jokers only had to deal with where to stash their giant cell phones.
Although many things that have settled down or become ubiquitous and contained, it’s still the Wild West out there (here?). Bang! down goes Altavista, Blamo! my Minidisk player is useless, and now everybody’s gunning for HD-DVD or cable Internet connections, and, of course, always sniping at Google (though Google’s kind of like the giant, metallic spider war-machine you may recall from that docu-drama starring Will Smith). Compared to the permanent revolution of technology, agrarian society starts looking kind of swell.
So how do you reach me and my kind, other than by telegraph and billboard messaging? By offering us distilled versions of complex things that work perfectly. Right now, I’m one of the 15% of people who doesn’t have a cell phone. If I ever get one, I don’t want it to have 5 megapixels of camera capability, or the potential to hold 100 songs, and I sure as hell don’t want to wear my fingernails down to nubs emailing someone from a tiny keyboard. I would just want it to work, not drop my calls and not break when I sit on it.
If you can’t give me that, then you can reach me at my home phone connected to my wall. If I’m not there, hopefully I’ve confronted my fears and bought some prime corn growing land in Nebraska. With the advances they’ve made to biorefineries and the design progress we’ve seen in flex fuel engines, I should be able to do alright.
posted by Matt Mack
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