How to Tech to Live.
V1: making decisions about the tech you need to work from home long term.
Accept it; we live in a connected world, and the pandemic has made it even more important to be tech savvy than it’s ever been. School, work and play have all moved online. This makes fast affordable internet even more important as a public utility, but closing the digital divide is something I’ll tackle in another article. I want to focus on smaller scale tech decisions that you, the person reading this article, might have to make in order to keep up in the “work from home economy”. This is relevant for your 9–5, your side hustles, or your small business. Here we go!
Tech is everywhere, and determining what you actually need to work from home is tough.
It’s really easy to fall down a tech rabbit hole. From new iPads and Android tablets that profess to be ‘laptop killers’, to the laptops themselves,to Chromebooks, to the oft forgotten desktop PC, there is so much available at nearly every price point that it can be overwhelming to think about your next purchase. And in an era when more and more people are losing their livelihoods, tech seems like it should be an afterthought. But the data is clear ; “We see an incredible 42 percent of the U.S. labor force now working from home full-time” according to a June article from Stanford University (link).While states are opening up and people are slowly trickling back into offices, some companies (moved more by cut cost and higher profit than care for worker’s lives) have moved their operations entirely remote. I think that this is a trend to be ahead of not just for workers; but for libraries, city planners, and anyone who cares about public spaces, workers, and technology. So, in an attempt to provide a bit of help sorting through the insanity (which is my job as a Library Professional, after all), here is a brief outline of how i make tech decisions for the long-term, and how I set myself up for the digital future we’ve crashed into due to COVID-19.
Part one: Research.
It can be impossible to research a device nowadays, not from lack of information, but because there’s just too damn much of it. Knowing where to even start, let alone being able to tell the difference between reliable sources and ads can be really tough. Watch, listen to, and read as much as you can about any device before you buy it, even if it is from a company you trust. Take the two extremes and the truth about the product is probably somewhere in the middle, but always do your due diligence to see where a device shines and where it fails in your particular use case.
It’s not enough to just watch a ton of videos or read articles, the best way to tell if a device will work for you is to get it in hand and use it. However, I certainly can’t afford to go out and buy every item I’m wanting to try out. It’s also tricky to try and go out to Best Buy in the middle of a pandemic just to try out a device. But i think that knowing as much as possible about the item you’re getting is the best way to make sure you’re actually making a good choice.
Check the specs and see if they match your software needs. Take a look at the User Interface (U.I.) and see if its something you can deal with. For example, I love the simplicity of Chrome OS’ desktop mode, but I can’t stand the overly cluttered tablet mode. So I keep a mouse or keyboard plugged into the Lenovo Duet most of the time, so that I can avoid using it in tablet mode.
You should try to get your hands on a device so that you can test out its build quality. I recently made the mistake of buying a Laptop for its specs without testing it out in stores. When I received the device I was impressed with its speed and power, but I realized that I’d have to connect it to a dock all the time because the build and screen just weren’t up to my standards for photo/video editing or writing, even though it all seemed fine on paper. It’s important not to let the high quality of YouTube videos or product advertisements trick you into thinking that the device looks as good in hand as it does on screen.
To wrap up the research section of this series, make sure you actually try to find multiple sources that say the same thing before you accept it as gospel. Don’t take any one source’s word for how good or bad a device is; just because an Apple stan says the new iMac is better than the latest all in one from Windows doesn’t mean you should run out and buy it. The reverse is also true, just because something is from a brand you don’t normally frequent doesn’t mean its not a good investment. Look at the ecosystem you live in (Google, Apple, Windows, Samsung, ect) and make decisions about what devices to get based on what you have already and what you need.
