Thoughts: The Evolution of the Desk
I just logged onto my Google+ homepage and I saw an interesting link posted by LinkedIn. It reads,
“35 years ago, our desks were cluttered with stuff we needed to work. Now it all fits on a Macbook. How has your desk changed over the years? http://bit.ly/1vXL3Qz”
[click here] to view
This post got me thinking about what the evolution of the desk means. It’s true, a common desk in 2014 is not the same as a common desk in 1984, but the same can be said about anything. The TV, air conditioning and kitchen appliances have all changed since 1984. So why not the desk?
The desk has evolved and in one word, it has gotten a whole lot, “simpler.” Today’s desk is conveniently located on our DESKtops, our Macbooks, our iPhones or our many other technological devices. The desk today is experienced through easy to use user interfaces which are brought to us by a screen.
While successful people read real books before bed [click here], what about using REAL paper, pens, notepads and calculators? Could it be possible user interfaces take away from our real lives?
Take for example the calculator. The tool itself is technological, it’s easy to do math via a calculator. Now, the calculator app on your iPhone is pretty much the same thing as your common calculator, but without the actual calculator in hand. I wonder what type of effect taking way the physical calculator has on our state of mind. Is it good? Bad? Indifferent?
Will our want for “simpler” such as our much “simpler” desk, come at the expense of real things? Our dependency on technology is very real and has been for a long time, but as things get more and more simple, will our dependency grow faster and faster?
I stumbled upon this cool article, it’s a little dated as the writer refers to Paris Hilton like she’s a trending topic and he talks about his PDA … exactly, a PDA. It’s from Ask Men and you can click here to read through it. The writer’s story is more prevalent now than it was in 2004 (maybe?). He talks about his days without technology and how much harder life is, even for the most frugal of tasks.
He has a strong dependency on his PDA, his e-mail and cell phone (BEFORE the iPhone and Google Play) to perform well in his career, make connections in his life and just live. There’s no mention of Facebook or Twitter or Skype, but you can be sure today his “dependencies” have grown to include these and many other apps. His notion is that it is hard to survive without technology.
The evolution of the desk shows us that our dependency on technology has only intensified over the years. What type of effect does this have on us? Sure, our desk is much more neat, but are we too afraid now to get our hands dirty? I asked many questions in this post, because I don’t have any answers. Do you?
Tweet me your thoughts @bucciarelli_ or send me an email to sfbucciarelli@sfb-online.com. I would love to read what you think and post a part II to this.
