Are we sure that adding more tech is solving real problems?

Last week, I attended the Push UX conference — and I thought it was fantastic. But, while listening to talks and looking at the very cool concepts, I couldn’t get a question out of my mind… Are we sure that adding more tech is solving problems?

To be clear, I don’t mean all software. I listened to a very inspiring talk by Andreas Schwersenz speaking about MedTech software that could really help people with disabilities. That is not the type of tech that I’m referencing here.

There’s been something on my mind for a while… Apple’s Vision Pro.

I love Apple — or at least I loved how visionary they were. They were renowned for hardware & software that just worked — and they solved real problems. They were the benchmark. To me, the Vision Pro is a departure from this. And they aren’t the only ones.

I’ve sat for months, watching cool concepts, things that seem visionary, taking over our lives one step at a time — personalization projects using the Vision Pro that totally transform our life by implanting more tech into our day, and by personalizing everything to the nth degree — but I can’t work out the why behind it all. We live in a world where we’re starting to see studies link anxiety & depression with increased social media use — are we sure this technology is going to help?

Studies show that loneliness is reaching record levels, while human connection in real life tends to decrease anxiety and depression. This raises questions for me about whether technologies like the Vision Pro will truly enhance our well-being in the long term.

The Meta Quest — a recipe for disaster?

Let’s take another example — the Meta Quest. Facebook say that they “believe in the future of connection in the metaverse” — but is this really a good thing? If we look at apps such as Roblox, where children connect in ways that adults could’ve never imaged growing up, we see people becoming less active in the every day life of the past, and becoming more (but at the same time less) isolated. Will this lead to our young people becoming more lonely, with more mental illness?

I ask the question: Are we sure about this future? Or the future where AI takes over ordering your favourite food at a restaurant?

Will we miss the human connection as time goes on? Will people buy less of technology in the future, seeking experiences where in person connection is the norm?

Maybe I’m wondering this for little reason — I’m sure there were people who thought the iPhone was pointless — who thought social media would never take off — I want to be a UXer that believes in the power of new, great products — I believe innovation is my job — our job. And that the world can be a better place because of it. But I still have a nagging doubt about the continuous intrusion on people’s lives using tech.

Are we really learning the lessons in the face of evidence?

What about if we made technology less intrusive and more along the lines of “it just works, when I want and need it. This adds to my life, instead of consuming it.”

I’m going to be slightly vulnerable here, I have no idea what the answer is. I’m not sure if we’ll see a revolt against tech — I’m purely trying to ask questions that maybe we, as the industry, don’t want to ask — mostly for my own curiosity.