IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2013 - 4

EDITORIAL

High-Tech Lust
KATINA MICHAEL

re you in love with your Android or Apple
in fact it is the other way around [2].1 Meaning it is the
device? Do you have a deep affection and
smartphone that drives us because without the human
suffer from separation anxiety [1] when
it would not have any intrinsic value.
your smartphone is not within arm's
These days we are so habituated to getting that
length of your bed at night?
instant message, whatever form it takes, that it has
Don't worry, you're not alone. rossiter [1] differenbecome a welcome distraction from the everyday and
tiates between "brand love" and "brand liking" which
mundane. I see many mothers at parks on smartphones
is significant. When it comes to our high-tech gadgetry
welcoming the relief from baby talk, even if only for a
people are likely to be able to cope better with being
few minutes. But at the same time, at home, it can be
separated from a partner or child than being separated
used as an excuse to be taken away from household
from a vital piece of technology which
responsibilities. Who wouldn't prefer
goes with them everywhere.
to talk to a friend or write on someone's
When we
I have been thinking much about
wall instead of cleaning bathrooms,
couple lust with
what it means to be "in love" with an
scrubbing floors, or vacuuming?
inanimate object - with a device that,
Some months ago I came across an
technology it
lacking electrical pulses, would be
article on Lew Terman, current IEEE
becomes an
completely "dead" and without funcSSIT Secretary, and former President
overwhelming
tion. At least a block of wood that
of IEEE. In this article [3], Lew reflects
desire or craving
serves as a dinner table facilitates the
on his late father Fred Terman, who
joy of a family meal, and is more visumany people consider to be the "father
to be "with"
ally appealing than a computer that
of Silicon Valley." Of his father, Lew
our device,
is not plugged in. Well, at least to me
reflects on childhood memories: "He
all the time.
anyway...
would drop what he was doing, answer
One reason why I believe some peothe question, make sure I understood
ple are "in love" with their Android or Apple devices
the answer, whatever it was. I would leave, and he
is because their contents reflect so much of who they
would go right back to work... He never said, 'Wait a
are. Without these devices, they cannot be contacted
minute, I am in the middle of writing this thing, could
instantly. Stored on these devices are montages, picyou come back when I've finished the page?' or, 'don't
tures and video snippets, favorites, lists, and contacts.
bother me now, but I'll talk to you later.' "
They are in love therefore with aspects of the self,
and this is not entirely negative. It is only that the
1
Kac writes: "It is almost as if the body has become an extension of the
high-tech device, e.g., the smartphone, is often miscomputer, and not the other way around. This, perhaps, only reflects techunderstood as being an extension of the body, when
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2013.2259652
Date of publication: 5 June 2013

nology's general outlook, since organic life is indeed becoming an extension of the computer, as the emerging vectors in microchip technology
clearly point to biological sources as the only way to continue the exponential process of miniaturization, beyond the limits of traditional materials."

Katina Michael is with the School of Information Systems and Technology at the University of Wollongong, Wollongong,
New South Wales, Australia, 2522. Email: katina@uow.edu.au.
4

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