The Lament of the Luddite: Frozen out by new technology

I consider myself technology friendly.  Really I do.  But I am also on a budget, so I don't have all of the latest electronic toys I would like to have.  I haven't really missed them, but in the last week a couple of things happened that made me wonder just how much of a Luddite I have become.

I was at a presentation at which the presenter gave QR codes as links to her presentation slides and tip sheets. Very cool and very of the moment.  However, for those few of us who have not joined the Smart Phone revolution (as I wrote about here) QR codes are just funny looking square patterns.  I could not link to her materials.

Shortly after that, I got this month's issue of FAST Company, a magazine that I highly recommend.  It is a fun, thought provoking publication and always has something in it that I can use at work (and in this blog!)  This month's issue of FAST Company had a cover sheet proudly proclaiming that I could now get the magazine on my tablet device.  Unlike smart phones, I have never even considered getting a tablet.  The promotion cited all of the additional content I could get on my nonexistent device.  Which made me wonder why I am being short-changed because I only experience the publication in its archaic paper format.

My point is that as companies rush to meet the surge of new ways we can access content and information, they should make sure to remember those of us who are a little slow on the uptake.  Don't let your loyal customers or subscribers be frozen out by new technology.

Smart "Phones"

I have been shopping for a new phone recently and decided to end my Luddite ways and get a smart phone.  There is a lot of information available about the various and sundry "smart" phone options.  The only thing I can't seem to get is which smart phone actually works well...as a phone.  Hmmmm.

Other posts you might enjoy:
http://allismarketing.blogspot.com/2011/10/babies-and-bathwater.html
http://allismarketing.blogspot.com/2011/06/luddites.html

Luddites

In an article in this month's Fast Company on Cathy Davidson, a professor at Duke University, there is a quote I quite like.  Davidson is a Duke English professor and co-founder of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) a "network of academics inspired by new technology..."

At the end of the article, Davidson, who is in her 50s, expresses frustration with some of her generation who are ignoring or resisting the new technologies and the new realities brought on by those technologies.

"When I hear from those 40-year-old, 50-year-old Luddites, I'm thinking, What else is wrong in your life that you have to make such a wall?  If you're worried about distraction, something else is going on."