Futurophobia and Technophobia

01/06/2020 13:09

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In humans and in all animals, fear is a deeply physical emotion; its purpose is to promote survival. Only those who fear the right things survive.
These days, we’re addressing the adverse effects of a deadly pandemic and we worry over our inability to control our future. We are afraid for our own safety, for our community, for our economy. But in our everyday, generally speaking, our fears are rooted in the current global uncertainty and general lack of stability. We feel the future as a place full of unknowns, where every change may become a threat. Not to mention how this sentiment is boosted by media focusing primarily on negative stories.
The fear of tomorrow's unpredictability is called futurophobia and has become a sign of our times.

 

Technophobia

The same is with technophobia: “the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers”, as dictionary explains.
Technology is innate to modern society. It greatly influences and changes our lives in profound ways. Today's technological advancements occur exponentially, even faster than market demand, and to the point that the average person has to adjust to changes that would have previously taken several generations. Technology adopters are not willing to change habits they are accustomed to, as it would demand time and effort. Incorporating a new technology into one’s daily life, where an established set of rules and routines already exists, triggers anxiety, apprehension and insecurity. Finally, this is another way to consider futurophobia. What can be called the “At this rate, where will we end up?” syndrome.
Incidentally, this concern about new technology is not new. Yesterday it was sitting too close to the TV, today it is WIFI frying our brains.

 

Why people push back technology

Technology refuse is determined by numerous factors. Among the major barriers individuals experience in their interaction with technology, research list:

  • Complexity: technology is perceived as too difficult to understand and use.
  • Cost and Loss: users think the extent of behavioral change required is not worth the benefits.
  • Endless updating: users don’t feel like keeping pace with another ever-evolving technology.
  • Fatigue: technology incorporates additional functions and non-core features that users don’t see the utility.
  • Excessive choice: users are unable to determine supremacy among similar new products (and new technologies).

It is also interesting to note that apprehensiveness with a technology may arise not only from underinformation but also from overinformation. In the former case users do not understand how the technoloy works and they refuse to adopt it. In the latter case users do understand how the technology works and they fear its potential vulnerabilities or invasiveness.

 

Consciousness

Users have become more and more conscious and are increasingly changing their attitude about technology. Until recently tech companies were widely seen as having a positive impact on life but now negative views are rising. Lack of transparency and personal data misuse, market dominance and concentration, unfair and anti-competitve behaviour and addictiveness are among the major points users are focusing their attention on. This resulting in a growing number of cases brought to the court and in huge fines imposed. (And on the other side in an unexpected and suspicious tendency to philanthropy).
In such cases we may see a partial rejection of technology. Users just take advantage of a limited number of the functionalities the technology offers.

 

Unstoppable

If all that’s true, though, the question is: Why are tech companies still so successful? Why, in spite of everything, is technology more and more welcome in our life? The pretty simple answer is: Nowadays it’s very difficult not to be a tech company customer, a user of technology. Tech products are used to communicate, socialize, buy things and much more. It’s definitely hard to imagine life without them, now.
Wheels are turning and technology powers them. The run can’t be stopped and goes faster and faster. The destination is uncertain and the outcomes might be undesirable and uncontrollable, but they sure are unavoidable. Yet, they aren’t necessarily to be feared.
As Barack Obama happened to say: “We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it” and, like it or not, we now have the technology to.

 

References

 

 

You may also like: Work-life balance utopia

 

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