The World Is a Giant Party for Technophiles; But Do Not Forsake the Wallflowers!

I think I will make such a good lab rat for designers of new technological products who want to see how their products r being received by consumers.

Why? Because I am admittedly a techno laggard, and my lecturer just reminded how important people like me are in the present technological products market: my league of people (the late adopters as opposed to the early adopters ) make up the MAJORITY of the the potential market, we may be slow, but we are definitely BIG in numbers. Tnat makes us the group of consumers that producers are trying to tap on, we literally blink with a giant money sign. We are their LONG-RUN profit generators.

Let's face it, the most cutting-edged technology is not for everyone. Who needs a 3G handphone with the ability to stream video clips and provide wireless multimedia services when a normal phone can satisfy my daily needs of calling and sms-ing? I am not a technophobe;i don't specifically choose to shun away from technology or develop anxiety when going near a computer, it is just that these products are simply FARRR too features-laden for my basic needs. I need a product to fit into my lifestyle, not one that will have control over me.

Look at it this way, those engineers and designers are definitely pro-innovation biased. They are geeks who worship technology as the new god and think that the whole world should worship it too. There is always a competition to be the smallest, fastest, most-features-fit-in-one etc, but they had forgotten one thing: the end-users are mostly just normal human beings who worship Jesus, Allah or Buddha. There is a huge chasm of their idea of the benefits of technology to ours, they should worship our needs more to make those products more human-centred.

So we will see that human-centred technology is what smart designers would aim towards from now. I am definitely more attracted to a laptop advert that says: " Sleeker and slimmer design, more suitable for the new-aged mobile professionals" because I don't want to break my back lugging it around, than one that says :" # 30GB, HD, 9.5MM, 4200RPM, Internal 56K Modem,8-24-24-24X SWDVD/CDRW Combo Drive ..."

I am not being defensive of my low technology reception ability; my point here is basically that our world is far too obssessed with gaining every inch forward towards more advanced technology that sometimes the real needs of most consumers have been overlooked.If u r a technophile, then good for u, coz u r definitely at the right party but most of us are just wallflowers. Ultimately most of us just want technology to work for us, one that complements our lives and fades into it seamlessly, not one that threatens to shackle us with its insatiable quest for nanotech-perfection.

The wallflowers deserve to have some fun too.