No Electronics, No Clocks, No Phones
We're meant to think that more gadgets will make life easier. Earlier today I read someone saying that a shop where Amazon has Indians (yes, abroad in India) spying on your whereabouts and your arms to figure out what you buy will make life easier. Who for? Those people who sit there keeping stock of what you buy? It seems more like a new form of slavery, not any technological advancement. It's a low-paid butler, that's all that is. Also, do "apps" that let you order food actually bring you that food? No, there are cooks making that food and then someone who drives to your home, knocks on the door etc.
Let's face it; a lot of modern technology isn't improving life (or enriching people's lives), it might just improve the profits of some companies while lowering the wages of their workers. In other words, those alleged "gains" are at someone else's expense, it's not an "efficiency improvement". It's an outsourcing of toil/labour - an act of thinly-veiled exploitation, marketed as "Smart".
People increasingly recognise that gadgets can increase stress and harm tranquillity. So there are gymnasiums where phones aren't allowed, health clubs where they have no clocks (by intention), and people are expected to enjoy their surroundings instead of tinkering with gadgets.
Where does one reach or cross the threshold of "too much tech"? That may vary depending on the tech and the use case, but with hype like "hey hi" there is almost no real use case. Almost none!
As a famous French blogger put it earlier today, they insist that "even if it is completely stupid, AI will be everywhere, get used to it!"
Well, he complains that major media now posts spam disguised as "journalism" to hype up slop; The Register MS did that several times earlier today.
Maybe what we need is far less slop, a lot fewer gadgets, and generally more focus. The brains of young people are unable to develop properly, not due to signal deprivation but just too much noise. We'll pay the price as future generations grow up and run things. █