News
Technology Absorption Rate
01.20.2009
There is a new bottleneck for the human race: the Technology Absorption Rate. Let's face it — we can only take in new technology so fast. No matter how nifty or cool, not matter the impact, there is still energy required to change how we use technology or to adopt new technology.I believe this new metric is hard to measure, but a reality that we all face as humans, but most of all as developers and technology innovators. A key example is smartphones. Many people have phones capable of incredible tasks, but are still used as simply as a rotary dial phone and a rolodex.
Certain things are driving the adoption of new technology, such as browsing the web, but it's difficult to change how we search the web, for example. I still see people searching for URLs instead of typing them into the address bar. I still see people with iPhones downloading apps and using them exactly once. Except for solitaire.
Facebook requires a great deal of absorption to use effectively, but the payoff is pretty big for both personal and business reasons. Those who have already absorbed the various nuances of facebook saavy have basically compressed what it means to absorb that technology and can bring new users on board a little more smoothly than if they just tried to figure it all out on their own.
Learning through compression, assistance from experts and consultants and techie friends and family is the new culture for the always-online human being. Nonetheless, our nature is habit and our habits are intertial. I believe different societies have different collective absorption rates — small town America will take much longer to start using the hottest new mobile apps than San Francisco — but we are all chained to this velocity of change.
« Return to News