Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

We don’t accept every new gadget that comes from the mind of an engineer. New uses need to be demonstrated for new technologies to take hold. Either that or new generations come along with different values.

New technology comes every day. We immediately accept it into our lives without a thought of its long-term affect and move on to the next gadget of the day. Wrong.

We don’t embrace every new technology. See, for example, the video phone. The technology has been here for decades. People were so accustomed to talking to someone without the other person seeing them, that they rejected the idea that the other person could see them. I thought this silly, as I wanted to see the other person and didn’t really care what they saw in me. I suppose that is the practical-minded engineer in me.

I was surprised to hear and often laughed derisively when people I knew said things like, “I don’t want other people to see what I look like when I

just roll out of bed

am working in the kitchen

am cleaning house

am lounging around the house in loose sweats and hoodie

The practical-minded engineers lost. Our friends who actually cared how they looked to other people didn’t accept the technology.

A big part of the rejection of the video phone was the marketing. Recall when Bell tried (successfully) to introduce the talking-listening device as a competitor to the telegraph. He sang a song. You can’t sing a song on a telegraph. You can transmit and receive information faster on a telegraph than during a phone conversation. That required a skilled telegraph operator, but the early telephone required a skilled switchboard operator as well. Bell demonstrated a new use to justify the adoption of the new technology. The video phone guys never had that demo that showed something extra.

The video phone is finally being accepted on cell phones now. See, for example, how the iPhone 4 has two cameras that enable video conversations. The same is true of the web cams on computers that allow video chat.

Why has the video phone technology been finally accepted now? Because a new generation has arrived that wants to see everything AND isn’t afraid to show just about everything as well. I can still hear my friends saying, “but I don’t want anyone to see me when I’m…” Today’s video phone adapters are saying, “whatever.”

Perhaps the video phone is a bad idea. Perhaps it is a good idea. I know that it has been rejected for several decades, but now is being accepted. Then again, many people of my generation didn’t want to have a telephone in our pocket as that allowed others to bother us anytime and anywhere, and who wants to talk to all those people all the time? Maybe that is the introvert engineer in me.