Technology: Why, Oh Why Those Constant Updates?

On By stuartakenIn Author, opinion, Organisation, Progress, question

Sure, we all know sometimes tech needs to be updated to flow in synchronicity with other tech, and that’s an accepted necessary evil. But why, oh why, these constant changes in style, appearance, and especially, connections to bloody AI? We are the customers, the consumers of your products. We BUY them. Don’t we deserve a say in changes to what we’ve already spent our hard-earned cash on? I’m no techie, but it strikes me that, when changes are proposed, any system that fails to consult those who pay its bills is demonstrating utter disregard for its customers. It surely must be relatively simple to include in updates a choice for the consumer to either accept or reject cosmetic changes. But, of course, the entire system of modern tech is designed to make maximum profit, and most of these changes imposed on users involve profit in one way or another.

I can’t be the only one who cringes every time I open Google Chrome or Mail, my Google Pixel phone, Adobe Software, or any of the multitude of programs/devices we use daily, only to discover there is yet another ‘update’. Why are these so essential? We’ve been happily using our stuff for months, even years, to do our work, have our fun. So, in whose interests are such unrequested changes made? Certainly not mine!

My suspicion is that many such systems/devices have been designed intentionally to need constant updates whether we need them or not. Are we simply keeping the programmers/ constructers in work, paying their salaries? Many of the changes are either pointless or even disruptive. I, and I’m sure I’m not alone, have enough difficulty getting to grips with the initial device/program without being frequently required to learn some new move I never needed in the first place.

Such constant change seems also designed to keep us from having too much free time where we might actually learn things that may be of use or interest to us. Keep the consumer busy and they won’t ask those awkward questions, like ‘Why the devil didn’t you get it right in the first place?’ It seems to me it is either incompetence or greed, or more probably a mixture of both that drives the industry to constantly change everything it produces.

Please, techie people and companies, give us users a break, demonstrate future-proofing, use some foresight, understand the concept of consequences, allow us all the time and opportunity to actually get used to what you produce before you decide to foist yet another change on us. Oh, and if you find it impossible not to keep making changes, please at least give us the option of rejecting those that are not essential!

13 thoughts on “Technology: Why, Oh Why Those Constant Updates?”

  1. Yes it makes me fume too, having to waste time waiting for the constant updates that are supposed to help me save time and effort! And that nasty little ever-present AI thing that crops up everywhere now. You can ignore it or you can disable it, but you can’t get rid of it.

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    1. Oh, please don’t get em started on AI, Caron. Like many technical ‘advances’ no real thought has been given to its potential consequences, and those, I fear, may be far more dangerous than most users realise.

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    1. I feel for you, Noelle. I’m the ‘tech-savvy’ one in this house and often have to point Valerie in the right direction, especially when changes occur. But it doesn’t come easily, especially as I get older. I think the device I find most irritating is my mobile phone, which I really only want for phone calls, texts, and the use of the very good quality camera it has. The rest, quite honestly, I can do very well without!

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        1. That would drive me round the bend, too. Fortunately, here in the UK, we are not generally flooded with ads on our phones, at least I’m not! I suspect for us it has something to do with using the phone for shopping, which I never do.

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