Trust your geeks
15 years ago, my local library had a night about “The Internet”. At that time, I read bits about it in a science magazine, and I was fascinated and persuaded my dad to take me there. That night, a guy came and talked to us about what the internet was, and what you could do. He sent an email to the White House, and got a reply within half an hour! I was so drawn to this new technology, and wanted to know more about it. Shortly after, the library got an internet connection, and I was browsing the web for 5 guilders an hour, spending all the money I made from delivering newspapers.
My fellow geek friends and I started blogging years ago (back when LiveJournal was still big and WordPress unknown). We talked about our personal lives, and some people found out the hard way that even a private blog is public.
Around 2004, some friends bought a Mac, when it was still very uncommon. I bought one shortly after that (my main excuse was “so that I can run Photoshop and Unix at the same time”). Another few months later everybody was buying Macs.
I noticed that whenever we geeks were passionate about some technology, and really got into something, the mainstream would follow a few years later. This applies to computers, internet, Facebook, smartphones, mobile internet and more.
These are the current feelings I have about technology: I don’t want to be connected all the time anymore. I want an information diet. I want real experiences instead of online ones. I think most websites suck, most iPhone apps are great (beautiful, minimal, fast, to the point). There is too much noise on the internet. People are taking breaks from technology. It’s becoming harder to focus for a long time, but I really want that.
I mostly wrote this article for future reference: I wonder which of these feelings will become mainstream. For example, Facebook is still growing, but I think it’s going to become obsolete. People want real experiences. When I tell a story, I don’t want people to say: “Yeah, I read that on Facebook”. I think geeks are an especially good predictor of what will happen with technology, and I’m starting to notice the above feelings more and more around me.