In these grim times, there is some hope for our species: Google Glass may not be inevitable after all. Mat Honan of Wired, the bible of the technorati, spent a year trying out Google Glass, a futuristic pair of eyeglasses equipped with a voice-activated wireless computer and camera and a tiny internet display in one lens. The trial didn't go well. Honan reports back that the Glass's ostentatious techiness — and its ability to photograph or video anything the wearer wants — made him the subject of derision and threats wherever he went. People "talk about you openly," Honan marvels; he got used to hearing himself called a Glasshole. And despite some "cool" features, Honan found Glass "more novelty than utility" — just another way of "documenting rather than experiencing."
You need not be a Luddite to be heartened by the Glass rebellion. It suggests we haven't yet been seduced into surrendering the last vestiges of privacy and spontaneity. In recent months, young techies have been publicly questioning the toll that constant connectivity has taken on their relationships, their attention spans, and their ability to sit quietly with their thoughts. Burnouts are treating themselves to internet "holidays" or checking into retreats promising "digital detox." Last week, web journalist David Sessions published a mea culpa in which he called much of web journalism "stupid and worthless," saying it "exists simply to produce the act of clicking." His chastened advice: "New tools should be scrutinized intensely and skeptically, as should the people who stand to gain vast new forms of power and wealth when they are widely adopted." Wise words, which I immediately shared with everyone I know via the internet.
