Has Technology Kept Its Promise?

This is a transcribed segment from a talk by the late philosopher Alan Watts:

It’s a question of realizing that technology was invented to save labor.

That doesn’t mean “in order to dismiss your employees.”

It means to let them have a vacation. In other words, a shorter workweek.

And for you yourself as the owner, less to do. So that you can go and gaze at the moon or make love to your lady friend.

Why not do it? Why everybody feels guilty about it?

They think (having archaic minds, when we didn’t have this technology) that they gotta go on behaving the same way as when machines didn’t exist. But now we have them. But we won’t use them, except in silly ways. Like, for example, rushing around everywhere in automobiles polluting the air.

You know, you don’t really have to commute in most businesses, if you have a telephone. Ever thought about that? You don’t need an office. You don’t need to go rushing around, exhausting yourself, and getting absolutely furious in the traffic jams on the freeway.

I am not sure what year this is from, but worth noting that Alan Watts died in 1973, so this was certainly way before everyone carried a computer in their pocket. When he talks about a “telephone” here, the reference is to a landline. Not even a cordless phone.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the prime of when Watts shared his work, the promise of technology was that it would create a shorter workweek and more time for leisure activities.

And yet, approximately 50 years after Watts spoke these words, his comments feel particularly relevant to the world we live in today.

From the same talk:

We’re all getting furious about things we can do nothing about. We read the newspepers and look at the TV and see the disasters occuring all over the world, and feel upset and mad and there’s nothing we can do.

Why waste your time?

Did Technology Keep It’s Promise?

As I listened to this talk, the inquiry I had was: did technology keep its promise?

Technology certainly made it easier to work remotely, and many people do that. It opened up new ways to work, creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs. Thanks to technology, we can work from anywhere. Watts’ vision of remote working is a reality.

Thanks to technology, many parts of our lives are more convenient than our parents and grandparents experienced 50 years ago. But is our quality of life better?

Armed with devices that we can take anywhere with us, we end up working from everywhere. Studies show that even when we take vacation, we check email regularly. We fear being disconnected, what we’ll miss, how we’ll catch up. We’re more stressed and depressed; drowning in information overload and demands on our time and attention.

Time to rest, to play, to engage in civic activities, to connect with others face-to-face in community: this is what was desired in the pursuit of technology that would ease the work burden. But this isn’t what we do. We use technology to work more.

Worth asking: is this really what we want?

PS: H/T to YouTube user Wiara who creates videos of Watts’ talks with the transcription in the video. Check out his channel for more.