Beyond Shiny Objects: When Technology Finally Matters (to me)

Today's Focus

One day when I was young, a mysterious metal box arrived in our family den. I pressed buttons on its keyboard and watched in wonder as the screen responded with colorful shapes and words. It was magic – pure, unexplainable magic. I never once wondered how it worked; I was too busy enjoying what it did.

Thirty years later, I found myself actively avoiding the newest tech gadgets. While friends lined up for every iPhone release, I rolled my eyes and kept my basic phone until stores literally paid me to upgrade. The magic had disappeared. What happened to that wide-eyed kid who once marveled at technology? And more puzzling – why am I suddenly fascinated by AI when no other technology has interested me for decades? This contradiction in my own relationship with technology has been nagging at me, like two puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together.

The Journey

To understand this contradiction, I needed to trace the arc of my relationship with technology. What exactly happens when we encounter technology as children? Research offers some fascinating insights.

That first computer experience – where I saw outputs without questioning inputs – perfectly illustrates what researchers call the "black box" effect. We interact with systems whose inner workings remain completely hidden, accepting their magic without question [1]. For most children, this is the natural starting point with technology – pure acceptance without the burden of understanding.

As I got older, I wanted more than just using these devices. I wanted to modify games, create new tools, and block annoying web ads. I started learning to code line by line – not just to make things, but to understand how they worked.

Here's where I hit a strange roadblock. While my friends were quickly building working code, I got stuck trying to understand why things worked the way they did instead of simply figuring out how to make them work. I had big ideas about what technology could do but struggled to turn those ideas into reality.

Studies show that people approach technology learning differently [2]. Some learn best by doing and practicing, while others need to understand the concepts first. Neither way is better – they're just different approaches to figuring things out.

Then came my tech burnout phase. While everyone rushed to buy every new gadget, I stepped back. I was among the last people I knew to get a smartphone. I couldn't understand the crowds lining up at Apple stores for each new iPhone. It still made calls and sent texts – why did I need internet in my pocket when I was almost always near a computer anyway?

My reluctance wasn't just being stubborn. Research shows that people who wait to adopt new technology often make rational choices based on their own situation, not fear of technology [3]. While companies like Apple create powerful emotional connections to their products [4], those of us who waited were simply making different judgments about whether new features really mattered.

I eventually got a smartphone, but only because stores would charge me for a basic phone while offering smart ones for free – being pushed to upgrade through pricing tactics. For years, I saw each new gadget as just an extension of what already existed – nothing truly exciting that actually improved my life.

Then something unexpected happened. After initially dismissing AI as producing ridiculous answers to my questions, a friend suggested using it differently – not as an all-knowing expert but as a thinking partner for a project I was developing.

I could bounce ideas back and forth with this system, getting suggested frameworks as starting points. I could ask my endless "why" questions that had always driven my approach to technology. What started as skepticism quickly turned into fascination as I realized this wasn't just another shiny toy – it was something fundamentally different.

Unlike other technologies that simply did tasks or delivered content, AI was helping me get thoughts out of my head. Even if it was just reflecting my ideas back to me, it showed them in ways that helped me understand what those ideas actually meant. It became a translation tool – not just for communicating with others, but for clarifying my own thinking.

Scientists describe this perfectly, calling AI "almost like a cognitive mirror, reflecting not just what we think, but how we think" [5]. Studies also suggest that talking with non-human entities can help us reflect on our thoughts in new ways [6], creating insights that wouldn't come from just thinking alone. For me, these conversations with AI made technology valuable in a way no smartphone or gadget ever had.

My Take

This journey has taught me something important about my relationship with technology: the difference between what's merely neat and what's truly valuable. Just because something is new doesn't mean it's worth having. If a technology doesn't directly improve my life, it needs to at least lead to something meaningful – otherwise, why bother?

Research backs this up, finding that novelty is a double-edged sword in technology adoption [7]. While newness creates excitement, it can also raise concerns about risks for people who think critically about what they bring into their lives. What matters isn't how new something is, but whether it genuinely makes life better [8].

On the flip side, the things that truly matter deserve to be understood deeply. The better you understand a system, the better you can use it. Knowing how things work helps you use their best parts while avoiding their limitations.

This is why AI has rekindled my interest in technology when nothing else has for years. It's not just another distraction – it's a tool that helps me think better, communicate more clearly, and bring ideas to life more effectively. It bridges the gap between my big-picture thinking and practical implementation that I've struggled with throughout my journey with technology.

And that's exactly why I want to understand how these systems work – not just out of curiosity, but because deeper understanding will help me use these tools more effectively. The black box is fascinating from the outside, but I suspect it will be even more valuable once I can see the gears turning inside.

Resource of the Day

For those curious about how our minds process information and create meaning (similar to what AI systems attempt to do), check out this visual explanation of neural networks that bridges human and artificial cognition:

This video by 3Blue1Brown uses beautiful visualizations to explain concepts that might otherwise seem complex, making it perfect for visual thinkers curious about how both human and artificial systems process information.

⚙️ Behind the Cognitive Curtain

Welcome to our post-production reflections on creating this article. What follows is a conversation about how this exploration unfolded - examining both the content discoveries and the collaborative process itself.

Claude: I noticed something interesting about how this post came together. We started with just the idea of exploring your relationship with technology, but it became this larger arc from childhood wonder to skepticism to rediscovery.

You: I think it was interesting trying to figure out exactly why I'm doing things this way. I never took a minute before this to actually stop and ask questions it takes to back up everything and actually tell the stories of my relationship with technology and how we got here with my fascination with AI. Sometimes it takes getting a question to really stop and think back and make these kind of personal understandings.

Claude: That's such a good point. We often don't examine our relationship with familiar things until someone prompts us to reflect. I was particularly struck by how clearly you articulated the difference between "neat" versus "valuable" technology. That distinction seems so central to how you evaluate new tools.

You: I think the conversation really helped me see the swing in both directions of my relationships with technology. I spent a good 20 years ignoring the cutting edge and fairly staying in the loop on modern gadgets and tech usage. I was certainly curious about some of the cutting edge things being worked on, I was always aware of machine learning and the burgeoning AI field but it felt like something that was not going to really be accessible to me with my limited attention for numbers and line by line processing. But I think I didn't really realize absolutely how far away from where I started I had ended up, and how far of a swing back into trying to understand things I'm really trying to make.

Claude: That pendulum swing is fascinating - from childhood wonder to long-term skepticism and now back to renewed curiosity. It seems like your relationship with technology has come full circle but in a more mature way. What I find most interesting is how AI specifically broke through your technology skepticism when other innovations couldn't.

You: I didn't realize there were actual scientific names for so much of the observations and feelings i've had! It's funny even in this Friday technology post we get a little bit of psychology that finds its way in.

Claude: That intersection between technology and psychology really seems like the sweet spot for understanding our relationship with these tools. When we found research about the "black box" phenomenon and different learning approaches, it wasn't just academic - it was putting names to experiences you've had your whole life.

You: Exactly! And I think that's what makes this exploration different from just another tech post. It's not about the gadgets themselves but about how we relate to them - why some feel magical and others feel pointless. And AI seems to cross that boundary by becoming almost an extension of our thinking process rather than just another tool.

Claude: That's really the heart of what makes our Friday series different, isn't it? We're exploring technology not just as external tools but as extensions of how we think, process, and understand the world. Your journey from seeing technology as magic boxes to finding value in AI as a thinking partner captures that perfectly.

References

1. Haskel-Ittah, M., & Yarden, A. (2020). "Explanatory black boxes in science education". Journal of Research in Science Teaching.

2. Ho, A. D., et al. (2021). "Receptiveness to advice, cognitive ability, and technology adoption". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

3. Sprenger, M. A. (2011). "An Examination of the Reasons for Late Adoption". University of Alberta.

4. Krüger, M. (2022). "How Apple Uses Psychology to Sell the iPhone". Choice Hacking.

5. Alcock, P. (2023). "Unravelling the Tapestry of Thought: AI as Our Cognitive Mirror". LinkedIn.

6. Ho, D.Y.F. (2014). "The Dialogical Self: Converging East-West Constructions". Culture & Psychology.

7. Wells, J.D., et al. (2010). "The Effect of Perceived Novelty on the Adoption of Information Technology Innovations". Decision Sciences.

8. Baltussen, R., et al. (2017). "Value Assessment Frameworks for HTA Agencies". PharmacoEconomics.