Technological Austerity

“There are signs that technologists are waking up to the benefits of minimalism,” says The Economist amidst a technology culture that values as many new features as possible. This could be due to two principle causes: “feature fatigue among consumers who simply want things to work, and strong demand from less affluent consumers in the developing world.” And as the limited benefits of multi-tasking become clear, people want technological devices with fewer means of distractions. “If the temptation to have a quick look at Facebook proves too much, there are programs that will disable access to particular websites at specified times of day; and if that is not draconian enough, there are even some programs that can block internet access altogether.”