There is no such thing as 'outdated' tech
As long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by technology. Growing up, I would always tinker around with computers, cameras, game consoles, audio equipment and whatever else I could get my hands on. I can’t remember what I was thinking when I took these things apart, but I guess I just wanted to know what makes them work. After all, it IS kinda magic… You press a few buttons and all of a sudden you can take a picture - or listen to music - or design a flyer - or do whatever else you want to do. It all just gets easier.
This ability to abstract complexity AWAY from the end user and make things more accessible has enabled me to do so many things I could only dream about doing without technology.
BUT: As the years marched on, I feel like this incredible aspect of technology has lead to a lot of exploitation of people that might not be as tech-savvy as those creating these tools in the first place.
'I know how this works, let me explain it to you, break it down into steps and package these steps in a form that makes them easily applicable if you understand how I broke down the process'
has turned into
'I know how this works, now let me not explain anything about what steps are actually involved and give you a ‘black box’ you can give one very specific kind of input so it will always produce a similarly inflexible kind of output'
Interoperability of systems, user modifications, actually owning the products you buy and making them last / work for as long as possible has turned into a never-ending cycle of replacement and enshittification. Or at least, that’s how I feel…
Now what to do about it:
Growing up, I also learned that I won’t be able to change the world. However, I can make my contribution and try to provide for the people that appreciate the same kind of simplicity I do. And by simplicity, I don’t mean ‘dumbing things down’, I mean just doing fewer things in general.
This principle of reduction has lead me to start Technologika. A venture into simplicity whose goal is to make all of these tech products we used to love accessible again. Make them ‘talk’ and work within the modern set of standards - but without taking away any functionality. Maybe even improving them.
While this is an undoubtedly opinionated endeavour, I hope to find people that appreciate the same mixture of modernity and nostalgia as I, because for me personally, technology has moved far past this sweet spot by now. So my constant struggle is to make ‘old’ things work within the current system. Keeping them as accessible as possible, reaping the fruits of technological progress since their inception, while rejecting the ten times larger heap of junk that came about at the same time.
