Balancing Extremes

“Making the world a better place”

It’s a quote that gets thrown around in the tech world with reckless abandon. We’re all making the world a better place. One gizmo / app / data mining algorithm at a time.

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Sitting in a high speed train hurtling toward Shanghai at nearly 250 miles/hr, I notice a stark divide. In the first class cabin, men in suits are sitting in comfortable chairs and staring at screens with earbuds in and stern expressions. In economy, people are talking to one another, playing cards, and laughing.

This train ride is the culmination of extensive preparations and hard work. Over the next 12 days, I am meeting some of the world’s top manufacturers — companies which make products for Apple, Sony, GoPro, Nest, and many others. Getting attention from these manufacturers is a battle half-won for a company like ours.

We’re out to tackle a growing societal problem: people are overwhelmed with technology. Everybody is too busy staring at a screen to pay attention to what’s going on around them.

Did you know that the average Facebook user spends more time per day on that one website than they do reading or exercising? Worse, did you know that the average Netflix user spends more time binge-watching shows than they do reading, exercising, and offline socializing combined? Scariest of all, the latest Nielsen report found that the average American adult spends over 11 hours per day using electronic devices. That’s more than two thirds of all waking hours!

Using technology to be more efficient does not bother me. What bothers me is that it is still so inefficient (and in many cases could be automated). What bothers me is that it changes the way people communicate. What bothers me is that it encourages people to withdraw from reality.

You probably have at least one Facebook friend bragging about how great of a time he or she had doing a “screen free” day or week. I think taking some time to disconnect is great, but how did we get to a point where the only way to restore the balance between living in the moment and utilizing modern technology was to alternate between extremes?

It used to be possible to get by without the latest technology. Today, however, a certain level of technical competence is expected in most jobs, and those expectations are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Technology is not going anywhere and disconnecting is not an option.

If we can’t disconnect, we have to find a balance. But as a consumer, this can be tricky. Businesses only strive to get our attention — it’s the new commodity. They try to maximize our engagement at the cost of letting us live.

We created technology. Has it been created for us or for businesses? To help us or to exploit our psychological vulnerabilities?

The designer’s intention is critical. As designers, we feel it’s our responsibility to give you the right tools with the right intentions, and to design our technology in a way that’s not distracting. Perhaps it’s not the best business model, but it’s the only one we know.

I founded Angee after falling victim to a home invasion. I never had a home security system — too expensive, too complicated, and too old-fashioned. I quickly realized that the feelings of security, safety and sanctuary that home provides can be fleeting, and must be protected. Admittedly, it took a bit more time to figure out how to do this in a way that fit people’s lifestyles without being distracting.

Angee One is designed to help make your home safe when you’re away, and make sure that the people inside are ok. It allows you to easily check in on your elderly parents or pets, and seek immediate emergency assistance if anything goes awry. Best of all, it does all of this autonomously and reliably without getting in the way. It tells you everything you need to know by saying nothing at all.

No single individual or company can restore the balance between people and technology by itself. Even if Angee were to end up in every home across the globe, we have a long way to go in restoring this balance. Hopefully we can inspire change by proving that complex technology can be fun to use and does not have to be overwhelming.

I wake up every day excited to continue marching forward.