In this edition of the Web News, Matt dives into a thought he had while out on the golf course: are we ever going to have tech that’s so seamless it doesn’t pull us out of the moment? We’ll talk about the current state of ‘analog’ versus ‘digital’ experiences, why even the most advanced wearables can’t fully disappear into the background yet, and what it might take to reach a future where technology is truly invisible but still helpful.
When I’m on the golf course with my friends, we still use the old school scorecard and a pencil in order to avoid being on our phones. Even though there are apps out there with GPS, ranges, and scorecards that track where you are on the course. We do this because we’re always on our phones and don’t want to be on there while we’re enjoying the outdoors (it just feels gross to us). By being on our phones, we also run the risk of being pulled into an email thread, a text message, etc.
Last time we were out there, I had the thought that it would still be nice to quickly set our score electronically, but in a discrete way. Maybe something like smart glasses, or a smartwatch app… but then I realized that no matter how fast we make our devices - we still need to remove ourselves from our real-life experience for a moment, in order to tinker with our devices to get them to do what we want.
