digitally numb

Introducing the Apple iNsomnia!

According to sleep experts, the light emitted by the iPad screen can impact the body’s secretion of melatonin and therefore impact your sleep cycle.

Think twice before taking your new toy to bed (at least until you can use a f.lux-like solution for the iPad).

The iPad has arrived…and we’re one step closer to a world without gadgets

The 21st century is undoubtedly turning out to be one in which we’re collectively moving past the need for physical media products (cds, records, newspapers, books, etc) and embracing the ease and efficiency of bits and bytes. But we haven’t really liberated ourselves from physical objects yet. The digitization of media has only shifted the focus of our obsession from physical media products to physical technology products that help us store and access digital media. Maybe its Apple’s fault. You don’t see lines outside the record store (if you can find one) on the release day of a highly anticipated album, but instead you see people camping outside the Apple store for the latest shiny new window into the media universe.

Don’t worry, this obsession with gadgets won’t last long. All you have to do is read any review of the iPad, or try using one. What makes the iPad special is that it breaks down some of the barriers between the user and media. The iPad’s interface is actually an anti-interface — it’s fast, easy to use, the touch screen is very responsive and the content being accessed through it literally takes over the device and immerses the user in it.

You see, the iPad is an important consumer product, because it is going to help us realize that we’re not really in love with gadgets. All gadgets are just inconvenient (but currently necessary) barriers between us and what we really want — instant and seamless access to media and the ability to consume it and interact with it anytime and anywhere. Once we get the media the way we want it, the medium becomes largely irrelevant.

Although some of it sounds like science fiction, the good news is that we are headed in exactly that direction. Cloud computing , free wireless broadband, the internet of things, the growth of multi-touch and gesture controlled interfaces and finally ‘brain-computer interfaces’ are some of the developments that will make this dream of seamless interaction with media a reality someday.

A few years from now, we will look back and chuckle at the sight of an iPad, which will be regarded as just another minor step in the evolutionary ladder of digital technology. We will gloat about how far we’ve come and how soon we made it all happen. The iPad will just be another extinct tech gadget — it will not matter.

But why do I still want one?

Technology becomes us — Heidegger meets Apple & Twitter

The Singularity is here! According to a new study, people have already fused with their computing tools. We are so entwined with the technology we use that they become part of our mind and bodily functions. The study conducted by Anthony Chemero, a cognitive scientist at Franklin & Marshall College was designed to test one of Heidegger’s fundamental philosophical concepts known as “ready to hand”.

This concept describes one way in which we interact with things in the world. According to Heidegger, when we’re engaged on a specific task, we tend to not be conscious of the actual separation between ourselves and the tools we employ to fulfill the task. In other words, you’re so focused on understanding the content of this post right now that you’re not thinking about the interface you’re using to access this blog, or the service that referred you to this page. However, the moment there is a disruption caused by the tools you’re using, which somehow impedes your ability to read this, you will experience cognitive disruption. Yes, that powerlessness and despair you feel when the YouTube video you’re viewing starts buffering is real. Further, the more such disruptions you are subjected to by digital technology, the greater the negative cognitive impact and consequently the reduction in the quality of your life.

That’s why reliable technology and user interface design that helps to lessen these disruptive forces is so important. Explains why Apple products are so popular and admired, right? They help us get things done with simplicity and ease. Maybe it can also help us understand why Twitter got so popular. The service is simple, takes minutes to sign up and start using it, and then all you have to do is type in less than 140 characters every time you want to share a thought, incident or observation with your friends or the world at large.

It helps you focus on exactly what you want to get done without any settings to be tweaked, privacy questions to be answered, and recipients to be identified or blocked. Just think and tweet. No disruptions! Well, unless this happens….