Technology has brought us so far, yet…
I’ve written plenty about technology before and I don’t think there’s any way to argue with the fact that the advancements we’ve been making in the last few years are impressive by anyone’s standards. However, I will admit that the question of whether or not things are practical or necessary surfaces every other time I click on an article about some new smart-this or i-that.
In a successful effort to point out how superfluous our obsession with technology has become, some smart and awfully funny folks decided to create a site called the The Internet of Useless Things.
Poking fun at the superfluous
One of my favorite items they advertised was the BookMk II. I don’t know when we as a civilization outgrew a good old-fashioned slip of paper bookmark, but apparently now we need technology to keep track of where we left off for us. You log your progress into an app in your phone, and then request your place by logging back in when you’re ready to hit the books again. This, like many of the products in the blog, relies on the Cloud.
Another eye-catching technological feat I found as I was browsing was the Intestinal Track 2.0. This is a pill that tweets “realtime” progress of your food digestion, and lets you know when you’re ready to, well, you know. Go number 2.0.
Our reliance is at an all time high
The idea that we would need a pill to let us know when we are ready to take a dump or an alarm that lets us know that our body is showing signs of elevated stress levels just goes to show that our reliance on technology is becoming totally fruitless.
There are a billion easier ways to do things, but we feel the need to flood our daily routine with as many over-the-top gadgets as humanly possible in order to feel modern and up to speed with the rest of the world.
A satirical look at our marriage to technology
The blog purposely plugs eye-catching words like “Cloud software” and “realtime data” that make our gullible ears perk up daily. Keeping up with the Joneses has become a race that only the wealthy and foolish will win.
I love The Internet of Useless Things because it pokes fun at this with a satirical spear sharp enough to make most of us take a step back and critically view our marriage to technology. We’re all suckers for innovation, but we have to make sure we don’t sacrifice logic and practicality for the next sparkly, expensive thing we see.
#InternetOfUselessThings
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