Why technology becomes ever more disappointing.

Why does the world owe us something we only knew existed 5 seconds ago?

We live in incredibly turbulent times, technology is unleashing itself on every aspect of our lives, progressing relentlessly to more bring about more profound changes, more quickly than ever before, but ironically, as is does so, the only thing changing faster are our expectations.

Moore’s law continues to hold true, we see computing power grow exponentially, our ability to process data has never improved more rapidly and sensors become cheap and abundant. Simultaneously costs for sharing and storing data plummet, while speeds and capacity in- creases accelerates. We’re on the edge of an interconnected world, a world of the internet of things, with big data and powerful computing that aids our lives in ways we’ve never imagined.

When these empowering elements meet the changing business world, a culture of entrepreneurialism, readily available cash, lower barriers to entry and start up costs, it’s easy to see why so many people think the singularity is nearing, it feels like the equivalent of the moments before the big bang and this time we have a ring side seat.

We now live in a world of multi-touch smart phones that tell us when it’s about to rain, of ever larger LED screens that adorn our shopping malls, where we have access to Wi-Fi and the en- tire world’s information at 30,000 ft., where we can drive electric cars that break speed limits and can travel further than ever predicted. In a world where our fridge can order milk for us, we all must be blown away.

But look around: we’ve already embraced the new and expect more. We’re looking not at what’s leading the edge of progress but what’s lagging behind. We’re frustrated when we don’t get 4G, amazed when we can’t track our home delivery with GPS, shocked that we still get medical appointments via mail, and we act bewildered when after two hours browsing, three hours of video watching, four phone calls, and 25 photos taken, our phone’s battery is looking low. If you think that’s bad, look at children: have you ever seen the disgust on a four- year old’s face when they notice a TV isn’t a touchscreen?

We see a curious world where what’s possible is marching at a faster pace, but what’s common — and expected — lags behind. We see a world of consumer disappointment, filled with “This is not a touchscreen” signs on airport TVs or in retail displays. In the words of Louis CK, commenting on Wi-Fi on planes: “How quickly is it that the world owes us something we didn’t know existed only five seconds ago?”.

While the future is here, not only is it not evenly distributed, but it’s less evenly distributed than ever before. There is incredible lag between the early adopters and the laggards, some- times spanning entire generations of electronics. Some people may be using cassette players in cars while others are streaming Spotify. Some urban dwellers embrace cord cutting TV’s while the rural others are praying for cord to be laid.

Uber can tell us where our car is, what time it’s due to arrive, what our driver looks like, and what people think of them, while a taxi service I used in a flyover state couldn’t find my location and didn’t have a cell phone number.

Dark Sky can scan the atmosphere, bring data together from a vast range of sources to, while constantly tracking my every movement, give me advanced warning of the moment rain hits and it’s severity. While at the same time the New York MTA struggle to communicate to me where a several hundred ton train is along it’s predetermined path.

Retargeted ads can note exactly what I am interested in, attach cookies to my behavior, buy automatically advertising inventory and create custom built advertising units within milliseconds, but only so far as to show me the item I’ve just bought and currently have less interest than at any other time in my life of buying at that time.

We also experience these issues within major companies: Virgin Atlantic is testing iBeacons and Google Glass, but half of its website was built in 2007 and the only way to book the Up- per class lounge’s spa is still over the phone.

These are tough times for companies. In high touch-point businesses there are no little mis- takes, and in a high-technology world we expect more. A lost booking on a computer screen is no longer acceptable — even waiting two minutes for them to find it is a drag. In the technology arms race, we’ve almost reached the point of mutually-assured destruction. Why can’t I select my seat on the plane, why does my hotel have a non-plasma TV, why is this Wi-Fi slow, why can’t I change my flight from the app, why can’t I select my hotel room?, I could use my phone to do this when booking at a Marriot and more.

We’ve gone about technology the wrong way, as we’ve embraced the latest technology to show the public what’s possible and to steal headlines with gimmicky strategies., We’ve al- lowed trans-Atlantic Wi-Fi on some planes, we’ve made mobile apps that do some things in some places, we’ve offered mobile coupons in some stores, we’ve concentrated on exploit- ing the new world to create moments of wonder, but failed to realize that this merely raises expectations and creates disappointment for consumers.

Rather than focusing on fleeting moments of surprise and delight, we should have built a more solid base and a consistent consumer experience. It takes every interaction to make a business amazing, but only one error to ruin it.

While it creates fewer headlines and seems less exciting, a more effective long term strategy is to focus on building a sustainable, positive experience and reducing issues, rather than aiming for the peak of what is possible. We can’t fight the monsters we’ve become but we can hope to assuage our frustrations not feed us more.