The Gadgets We Buy, But Never Use

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the oh-so-true dept

I come by my gadget obsession honestly. When I was a kid, I remember my father bringing home from work one day an “automated envelope opener” that a friend of his had sold him. It was a little box with a small slot, wide enough for a typical envelope. You slide the envelope through the slot, and a little motor kicks in, grabbing the envelope and zipping it through, while popping out a spinning blade to slice off just the tiniest bit of the top of the envelope. We both thought this gadget was amazing, and would change our lives. It was so fun to open up envelopes this way. Of course, after the first day of use, the device ended up in a drawer, and no one ever bothered to pull it out and actually use it ever again. We’re not alone. Plenty of “early adopter” types have this problem, I’m sure. You go out and buy the latest cool technology that you absolutely must have and rave about how it’s going to change your life, and then put it in a drawer and never use it again. Either they’re more complicated than we expected or they’re less useful – or both. The reactions in the article from folks who have this “problem” are quite interesting, as they’re very introspective about their gadget buying ways. Some people blame advertisers, though, that seems like a bit of a cop out.