It’s time we all stopped taking tech so seriously

November 29, 2011 12:00 pm

Categories: Computers & Accessories, Gaming, Mobile Phones News Tags: Android, Apple, Gadgets, Microsoft, tech

When did tech get so serious? Was it the arrival of Android on the smartphone scene? Apple’s resurgence from ailing tech titan to the world’s biggest company? Or does it have its roots in the days of Sega and Nintendo waging dirty war on each other? If you read tech sites, or more pertinently, peruse their comments sections, you’d think we were talking about a matter of life and death. Rather than something that makes the lives of those of us lucky enough to be able to afford the latest tech richer, more positive and ultimately, more fun.

Instead, we’ve reached a point where it’s become ok to sling mud at those who use a different smartphone OS, prefer Macs to PCs or just happen to use an Xbox 360 instead of a PS3. Frankly, I’m sick of it. It’s time we all stopped, took a deep breath and realised how frivolous this stuff is.

When I first started writing about tech in 2006, there was an overwhelming sense that while gadgets and web services were important, they were essentially a fun addition to your life. But as the tech world has gone from being the concern of hardcore geeks to a mainstream marvel where games make billions, apps proliferate and smartphones shift a million in a day, things have got upsettingly tribal.

For me, the key area where things have gone too far is mobile. Gamers have been tribal for years, with very little reason from what I can see, but the shift of this tribalism into the mobile space comes with an added and risibly personal edge. Not a day goes past when I don’t see an Android fanatic leave comments on websites (including this one) trying to convince Apple owners they’re all tedious sheep who need to see the error of their ways. Likewise, Apple fans berate Android owners for their obsession with phones that are fragmented and not as integrated as theirs.

This level is zealotry is tiring, not to mention pointless. The fact is, smartphones, whether they run iOS, Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry OS, are amazing. They’re magic boxes, full of incredible features that just three of four years ago would have seemed pure science fiction. It doesn’t matter which one you have, they make things easier to do and let you interact with the world in a way unimaginable at the start of the last decade.

The same goes for PCs and Macs. It doesn’t matter which one you use. Each has its own merits. Personally, I prefer using my MacBook Pro to my old Samsung Windows laptop. But I can see why someone might love Windows 7 and it’s integration with Windows Phone and the Xbox 360. The rabid anger of gamers, with PlayStation owners using the oh-so-childish M$ logo to slate Xbox Live while Microsoft fans tear into the PSN failure, is nothing more than posturing by idiots.

Put it this way. Does my use of a MacBook and iPhone preclude me from using Google services? Does the fact close friends use Android phones mean I can call them morons and slate their choices? No. Why should tech fans have to choose a brand and stick with it across every genre of device? I choose to use the gadgets and services I love because they excite me personally. And I see no need to aim personal broadsides at those who choose to do different.

Gadgets are fun. It’s time everyone, commentators and commenters alike, remembered that and stopped the tiresome trade in personal jibes, needless insults and overly serious rhetoric. Just remember gadget fans, the universe is indifferent.

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lol ur bias

lol ur bias
Anonymous

Well i’m guessing you have to look at the ROOT CAUSE. The media itself is to blame here, where it’s hard to get unbiased reporting from sites eager to please their highest advertisers.

I don’t see too many sites reporting how Apple iPhone 4s are catching fire on flights causing them to land ( http://tinyurl.com/biasedreportingsucks ) , but see plenty of shit slinging stories about Sony batteries catching fire..

I wonder who spends the most advertising… Yup, Apple and Microsoft, hence the medias primary goal of keeping them happy at all costs.

So before you start slagging off consumers, try looking closer to home.
Anonymous

Well i’m guessing you have to look at the ROOT CAUSE. The media itself is to blame here, where it’s hard to get unbiased reporting from sites eager to please their highest advertisers.

I don’t see too many sites reporting how Apple iPhone 4s are catching fire on flights causing them to land ( http://tinyurl.com/biasedreportingsucks ) , but see plenty of shit slinging stories about Sony batteries catching fire..

I wonder who spends the most advertising… Yup, Apple and Microsoft, hence the medias primary goal of keeping them happy at all costs.

So before you start slagging off consumers, try looking closer to home.

Joe Minihane

I quote myself here: “It’s time everyone [stopped taking tech so seriously], commentators and commenters alike.”

I’ve not ‘slagged off’ consumers. Just pointed out that everyone needs to take a step back and remember this is fun, not some wide ranging conspiracy, where writers get paid by companies, or where commenters are paid to talk up products. That’s not my experience on this site or the countless other major titles I work for.

I have no agenda Mr Jelly. I’m a freelancer working for stacks of different publications across this and other sectors. In all my years as a writer, I’ve never been asked to pull anything or change anything because an advertiser says so. Frankly, I don’t have time to deal with that level of crap, I’m just trying to keep my own head above water and produce work of a good standard. I don’t pretend this doesn’t happen, but in my years working I’ve not had to deal with that.

I point you to the video link at the end of the piece. “There is no lie. The universe is indifferent.” And do try and remember, it’s just technology. Toodle pip!
Garthb

Slagging off consumers? I didn’t see anything in the article.

Sometimes Jelly’s comments are as useful as a 3rd armpit.

I just had a look through Electric Pig’s numerous articles and all I saw was Google Chrome, and various non-related ads, no Apple and no Microsoft. Am I missing something?

Joe Minihane

Nope Garthb, you’re right. Apple doesn’t actually advertise with tech sites and mags in the UK, not as far as I’m aware anyway. I was amazed by this when I worked at Stuff and T3, neither of whom get ad spend from Apple, but I suppose their logic is that they need to advertise to consumers who aren’t already ensconced in the tech world. Not sure of the situation with Microsoft, but I’d love to see who the big advertisers are across tech. My understanding is that Acer and Asus have big deals.
Anonymous

You don’t think the endless amount of Apple iPhone4s “articles” or the brushing of Xbox360 relentless problems under the carpet are by chance do you?
If commentators are biased, then it’s no less than the writers themselves, either intentionally or unintentionally using their position to influence others.

I’m guessing you are unaware of the lavish launch parties these guys get invited to, free xboxes and phones given to every attendee, sometimes flights and accommodation even paid for.

Guess what, if you say bad things about Microsoft or Apple, these invites suddenly dry up. It’s blackmail by slightly more legal means.

Joe Minihane

By commentators I mean the commentariat, as in the writers, as opposed
to commenters. And I’m afraid that using a position to influence others
is what writing opinion pieces is all about, because we are trained
experts and this is our job. This happens across all media, not just
technology. That’s how papers’ op ed sections, and now websites work.
What I’m saying is this: we can all have an opinion, but just remember
this genre is not life and death and is about fun.

I’m afraid you’re misguided when it comes to those ‘lavish launch
parties’. Yes, we go to launch events, but the days of freebies on that
scale are over. I’ll give you an example: I went to E3 with Microsoft in
2009. Yes, they paid for my flight, but I wasn’t asked to write
favourable coverage and was able to attend Sony and Nintendo events no
problem. And if a company ever asked me to write favourable copy when
something was rubbish, I would (and have) told them where to shove it.

And sorry to break it to you, Apple events are about as drab as you can
get. They don’t give stuff away to anyone and never feature D list
celebrities posing with phones. I know, upsetting, isn’t it?

I’ve said plenty of bad things about companies. And I hate to break it
to you, I still speak to them. Because most people are aware that this
is work, a job, and that taking technology, is, as I posit in my piece, a
waste of time.

Keep enjoying your gadgets Mr Jelly

Anonymous

Of course nobody will ask you to write good things in exchange for free flights, hotels, feedups, boizeups, giftbags. However its widely known you wont be on the list to get them the following year. That is just as bad morally, slightly more legal thou.
Giving away 17,000 xbox360 slim models to everyone at e3 with even an ounce of editorial clout is blatent bribery. Please don’t tell me none I’d this happend, it did and its just the tip of the uncomfortable relationship the media and manufacturers (usually American) have. A relationship that ensures the only losers are consumers robbed of impartial opinions.

Garthb

I understand what you are saying MJ, but a lavish launch party doesn’t necessarily buy great product reviews. For one, if a biased reviewer gives a Blackberry Playbook (as an example) a rave review, yet the rest of the tech world report it as being a mediocre product that was rushed into production, then you stand out like a sore thumb.

People have a love/hate relationship with brands, and from this comes fanboyism where rival “factions” crow about how superb their chosen team is, versus the competition. I have an XBox 360 and a PS3, Android phone and iPad, with a Panasonic HD TV. I just want functionality and quality, regardless of who that provider is.

Anonymous

“if a biased reviewer gives a Blackberry Playbook (as an example) a rave review, yet the rest of the tech world report it as being a mediocre product that was rushed into production, then you stand out like a sore thumb.”
Hmm thus sounds like the Windows Phone 7 launch, everyone knows its shite, nobody is buying them. A few sites are brave enough to say so, the rest make themselves look like paid off idiots living the life of luxury on Microsoft’s lavish expenses.
Sent from my Sony Ericsson LT18

Anonymous

I don’t see any great harm in being a fan of a certain product or company – I think it’s natural and fun to take allegiances. To me the problem is those that take it too far… beyond a bit of harmless banter, and instead into the realm of blind hatred! Yes, as you can probably get from my avatar I am an Android fan, but that is more to do with being tied to a particular ecosystem having been accumulating paid app purchases in the Android market since the very first Android phone released (G1). Back in the day I was a Sega fan and must confess the sight of Sonic next to Mario on current video game releases still doesn’t sit right with me somehow! Despite this, I’d still be open to buying products from a “rival” company if I felt they were better.
I can actually see comparisons with sports fans – I think it can be harmless fun to take sides or have a favourite, but again it is often let down by those who take it way too far…

Joe Minihane

That pretty much nails it. Everyone has favourites, that’s natural. It’s the extreme nature of it that can lead us to forget that we’re supposed to be enjoying this stuff. After all, the rivalries actually lead to better kit for all of us.

The sports analogy is spot on. I love Spurs, but can’t stand it when I go to White Hart Lane and listen to fellow fans hurling needless abuse rather than enjoying the spectacle or indulging the lighthearted side of it all.

Anonymous

The problem is of course, any any REAL tech lover will know, is when superior technology takes the backseat to marketing.

A classic example I suppose is PS3 vs Xbox.

Microsoft rushed their console out, it barely worked, suffered 3+ years of reliability problems, scratching disks to this day still, charging for online play, and still as loud as a jet taking off in your living toom and hampered by last-gen DVD and a split user-base of HDD and HDD-less consoles.

Sony took their time, they got the system working, it was fully spec’d with Blu-Ray, future-proof more than any mass-market consumer tech (5 years later, still supporting lastest 3D, HDMI and Blu-Ray specs)..

Who took all the criticism this generation and thrown into a pot of universal hatred by the media… Yep, Sony…. However who SHOULD have been in there? Microsoft…

Apple. Similar situation, a very average product that locks you into them forever, that routes all your data through them, who’s audio products are sonically on-par with $5 HK market products, yet sell more than anyone else…. Product quality is last in line behind marketing budgets and product lock-in schemes.

Go figure…. Money talks, tech sits last in line behind everything else. So you wonder why people dislike companies and products that produce inferior goods and spend all their money covering over the cracks with slick marketing….

Joe Minihane

I rest my case Mr J. Taking it all too seriously. Have a good ‘un

Anonymous

So you don’t think that tech should trump everything else? Why are you writing for a tech blog? Apple is all about fashion, perhaps write for OK magazine instead?
Joe Minihane

Nope, I think it should be about fun and enjoyment, whether it has a snappy processor or is a great old console you can’t give up. It’s about how it makes you feel and whather it makes your life better. No matter what your favourite piece of kit, how it works and what it does for you is all that matters.

That’s just my opinion, you have yours, but let’s be civilised eh? I’m off down the pub. Cheerio .

http://twitter.com/CloudStorm87 Dew Alam

Nice article, Joe. While those are all valid points, I think you’re missing the bigger picture. The fanaticism you’re describing is not a new phenomenon. It’s been there with every generation of video game consoles, it’s been there when VHS and Betamax were duking it out – hell, it’s been there and continues to be there in sports, where fans of rival teams take any opportunity to slag each other’s teams off. As long as there are two very strong competitors in any field that people are heavily invested in, there’ll be fanboyism. It’s not ideal but that’s how it is and will be so long as there’s competition. The majority of tech lovers are sensible and see the strengths and weakness of all the options available. You don’t see these people comment much because they are probably too busy enjoying their latest gadgets. And if I’m not honest, it wouldn’t be half as entertaining if everyone just got along.

It’s time we all stopped taking tech so seriously

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