“Passionately Ambivalent”

January 21st, 2011

Connor O’Brien:

Just take a gander at a site like Gizmodo, or Engadget, most computer magazines, or the tech pages of your city’s paper, and you begin to notice a pattern: technology journalism, for the most part, is myopic and lightweight. Most technology supplements read like shopping lists, and it seems like most tech writers see themselves as consumption advisors, their primary role being to pimp out the sleekest, shiniest new gadgetry. Instead of analysing a device with reference to any kind of wider socio-cultural context, gadget reviewers tend to focus on build quality and tech specs: arguably the least important stuff in a “big picture” sense.