“I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies,” writes Douglas Adams in The Salmon of Doubt.
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Adams is mostly known for his cult-like classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Analysis: Although this is the shortest text I have found within this newspaper, it is extremely powerful and poetic. One of the user experience designers at Huntington recommended I look into Douglas Adam’s work. Adam’s was an English author, screenwriter, dramatist, essayist, humorist, and satirist, with clearly a great amount of experience in the realm of technology and the arts. To me, his quotes on technology outline the problematic of exclusion for older adults. When we are young, we are adaptable and excited by new technology with which we can build careers out of. But at a certain point in our lives, dependent on our interests and who we are, technological inventions fly past our heads and become things that go against we know the ordinary world to function. I cannot imagine how it must feel to be an older adult living in such a digital world – older adults’ group up on analog methods of paper and pencil and face-to-face interactions. The way we do things now, especially after the pandemic, is extremely daunting and taboo to them. I am not saying we should stop inventing new technologies, but what I am saying is that as new technologies come about from generation to generation, we need to better include the older groups of people who are left out of this process. I ask – how can we better include older adults in technology to improve their quality of life and confidence in the world.
Citation:
Farnam Street. (2019, November 10). Douglas Adams on our reactions to technology over time. https://fs.blog/douglas-adams-reactions-technology-over-time/
