I saw an ad recently for a “Smart Water Bottle.” It connects to Bluetooth, glows when I need to drink, and sends a notification to my phone if I am dehydrated. My first thought was, “Wow, cool tech.” My second thought was, “Wait a minute. Have I really become so incompetent that I need a £50 bottle to tell me I’m thirsty?”
We have entered the era of “Solutionism.” Silicon Valley is running out of real problems to solve (like diseases or energy), so they are inventing fake problems just to sell us the solution.
Here is my analysis of why we are drowning in technology that solves absolutely nothing.
1. The “Lazy” Innovation
Historically, technology solved Survival problems. Fire kept us warm. Vaccines kept us alive. The wheel helped us move. However, today’s technology solves Inconvenience.
- The Problem: “I am too lazy to walk to the light switch.”
- The Solution: A $20 Smart Bulb that I have to configure with an app, update the firmware, and shout at Alexa to turn on. Actually, this isn’t progress. It’s over-engineering. We are taking simple, functional parts of life (like a light switch) and adding layers of complexity just to call it “Smart.”
2. The Productivity Paradox (My Personal Nightmare)
As a business owner, I am guilty of this. I bought project management software to “save time.” Then I bought a communication tool (Slack) to “replace email.” The Result? Now I spend 2 hours a day managing the project software and replying to Slack messages. We haven’t increased productivity; we have just increased “Busyness.” We built tools to help us work, but now we work for the tools. The “Notification Economy” keeps us in a state of constant, low-level panic, making us feel productive even when we are just shuffling digital paper.
3. Creating Anxiety to Sell Relief
This is the most brilliant and evil marketing trick in the book. Tech creates a problem, makes you anxious about it, and then sells you the fix.
- Example: Sleep Trackers.
- Before the Apple Watch, I slept fine.
- Now, I wake up, check my watch, see my “Deep Sleep” score is low, and I stress about it all day. The tech didn’t solve my sleep problem. It created a “Data Problem” that I didn’t have before, and now I am addicted to checking the numbers.
4. The “Attention” Economy
Why do these problems exist? Because Peace is not profitable. If you are content, you don’t buy things. If you are bored, you don’t click ads. In my view, apps are designed to break your focus (Problem) so they can sell you “Premium features” to block ads or focus better (Solution). It is a perfect, vicious cycle.
Conclusion
I love technology. I make my living from it. However, we need to stop confusing “Novelty” with “Necessity.” Just because we can put a microchip in a toaster doesn’t mean we should.
My Final Thought: The next time you see a “Smart” gadget, ask yourself: “Did I have this problem yesterday?” If the answer is No, keep your money in your pocket. The old, dumb version is probably better.
