We used to plunge into the unknown, not because we had to but because we wanted to change the world. Armed with ingenuity and optimism we pushed the boundaries of what was possible. Buttons became touch screens, touch screens became voice-to-text, and eventually voice-to-text became Alexa. But now? The newest iPhone features an extra camera lens, but no headphone jack. Televisions have reached the highest resolution the human eye can see, yet most still need an external set of speakers for our shows to sound the way they should. You can stream hours of entertainment for the low cost of mooching off of a friend, but the streaming services keep fragmenting off into smaller and smaller sites at the same cost. Technology has made us complacent with the world as it is. Sure, there is more awareness and news coverage of gender divides, racism and classism, but we seem to be doing less about it as well. Why go to a protest when you’ve already ‘liked’ their instagram page? They know you support them, that’s all that matters right? Technology has taken so much of the guesswork out of being human, that I’m not entirely sure we are humans anymore. We live our lives through other peoples experiences, but those experiences are often a farce (and not a very well hidden one at that). We are living for our smart devices and all the luxuries that come with them. At some point we will have to ask ourselves if we are really content living in an episode of Black Mirror; but until then I suppose I might as well download the newest version of Angry Birds while waiting for my GrubHub delivery.
