One of the gadgets that I use the most is a relatively simple speaker that plays audio from my phone or laptop over a Bluetooth connection.
I can’t talk to it. The speaker doesn’t have an app or any artificial intelligence features. It’s pretty unintelligent, actually. That’s all I want.
What works for me may not be best for you. But my dumb speaker points to the value of technology that does just one thing and does it well.
That’s one reason for the niche popularity of old-school flip phones, retro cameras, wired headphones and vinyl records. (Also, some people in Gen Z and Generation Alpha enjoy technologies with unpolished output.)
In the affection for relatively simple technology, including my speaker, there may also be an implicit backlash to technology complexity.
When even toothbrushes have AI and you want to scream at your not-so-smart “smart” TV, it’s reasonable to wonder: For whom do companies make this complicated junk?
More of our favorite simpler technologies
David Imel, a technology journalist and producer for the MKBHD YouTube channel, had a smartwatch for years but started to resent the constant notifications “taking away from my life.”
Imel now wears a Casio wristwatch and has no regrets. (It’s like this model, though Imel owns a customized one. Hand-modified Casios are a whole thing.)
Chris Velazco, the resident gadget expert for The Washington Post’s Help Desk team, owns splashed-out, immersive video game machines but proclaimed “undying love” for a far-less-sophisticated Nintendo 3DS XL. The handheld game gadget came out in 2012 and is discontinued, though you can find used models.
When he has time to kill at home, Chris fires up his 3DS to play a tic-tac-toe-style game like he’s living in the Stone Age.
Wired tech writer Lauren Goode owns a seven-year-old smart-ish Garmin Fenix 5S smartwatch that tracks exercise and that’s about it. The battery can easily last five days without a charge. (The model is discontinued, though you can find similar versions used.)
The technology in the Jeep she’s had since 2007 is so backward that Goode says hackers probably couldn’t remotely crack the car without a lot of fuss. To play music from her phone, she uses a special cable that plugs into an old port in the car stereo.
“My goal is to hopefully drive it for 20 years, then upgrade to something more environmentally friendly, at which point I’ll have to accept that it’s connected to Skynet,” Goode said.
The pioneering technology writer Walt Mossberg is a big fan of his two iPads for their versatility, ease of use and great battery life. (Mossberg noted this doesn’t fit my concept of simple technology that does just one thing. True. It still counts.)
Tech affection is personal and idiosyncratic, and you may not find all of these things simple or useful. Even my dumb speaker is destined to die when the battery wears out. Supposedly simpler or older technologies aren’t always good, either. I don’t hear many people pining for VCRs.
If you have a favorite relatively simple technology, drop me a line and tell me about it.
The deeper meaning behind why we like these things
Some of the adoration for barer-bones technology is nostalgia or what Imel said is a backlash to the “consuming” technology that never leaves us alone. There’s also a rejection of creepy data-hogging common in many products you use.
I also wonder if the technology that drives us nuts isn’t merely overly complex when simple will suffice. The big problem is when tech is complex and bad.
Perhaps you have the urge to bash your balky printer with a sledgehammer. When I recently tried to add a streaming video app to an internet-connected TV, I had to reply to so many on-screen commands with a TV remote that I gave up in frustration.
Look, the hard truth is that a TV, dishwasher, car or headphone manufacturer is unlikely to make both a fantastic physical device and an amazing app or other software to connect it to the internet. And yet, they try.
Consumer surveys by YouGov consistently show that the top feature people want out of their smartphones is better battery life. Instead, companies keep stuffing their phones with fancy AI features that you might never use.
There will always be a place for the most sophisticated technology. But sometimes, the pretty dumb tech can be incredibly satisfying.