📘 Part 3: Gadgets and technology

This episode's vocabulary

Familiarity (noun) - a good knowledge of something, or the fact that you know it so well.

To trip up (someone) (phrasal verb) - to make a mistake or to cause someone to make a mistake.

Labour (noun) - practical work, especially when it involves hard physical effort.

Unassisted (adj.) - without being helped by anyone or anything.

By and large (idiom) - when everything about a situation is considered together.

Extraction (noun) - the process of removing something, especially by force.

Productivity (noun) - the rate at which a person, company, or country does useful work.

To break down something (phrasal verb) - to divide something into smaller parts.

To manipulate (verb) - to control something or someone to your advantage, often unfairly or dishonestly.

Comparatively (adverb) - as compared to something else.

Intensive (adj.) - involving a lot of effort or activity in a short period of time.

To fling (verb) - to throw something or someone suddenly and with a lot of force.

Labour-intensive (adj.) - industries and methods that are labour-intensive need a lot of workers.

Imbalance (noun) - a situation in which two things that should be equal or that are normally equal are not.

Handy (adj.) - useful or convenient.

Able-bodied (adj.) - people who are healthy and have no illness, injury, or condition that makes it difficult to do the things that other people do.

Questions and Answers

M: What equipment is usually difficult to use?

R: I think things people have the hardest time with are always new things. They could be new on the market or new to the home. But either way, people's lack of familiarity with using them always trips them up when they are first or when they're just getting used to it. So if you don't know how to work a computer, because you're older, and it's the first time you're using one, that's a good example of this.

M: Why do some people dislike technology in their workplace?

R: Well, the thing about technology is that it's essentially a replacement for human labour. And until recently, this was a good thing. But the number of operations that humans can do unassisted is getting lower and lower. So people might worry about being replaced entirely. And the other issue is that people really don't like change by and large, and new tech pretty much demands this.

M: Why do people buy a lot of household appliances?

R: Well, I suppose the main reason is that there are so many different jobs to be done that you can't really get one machine to cover all of them, yet at least.

M: And do you think people have too many household appliances these days?

R: That's a really good question. Well, I mean, it will depend on the perspective that you take. For example, is the number damaging the environment? So if you have like so many, that you're just ruining the local ecology, because of all of the resource extraction involved, then they might have too many. But also, you might need this to make more time for you to do more things. And so you might need these things. Or you might need more of them. And if you need more then you don't have enough, so it depends entirely on your perspective, doesn't it?

M: And do you think that these household appliances make us lazy?

R: Well, no, because all measures of human productivity over the last 100 years since we started using these things have gone up. We're doing more things. So no, it's not, it's made people more able, or more able to do things. And able to do more things.

M: What do people often do with electronic devices?

R: It seems like there's a gadget for everything these days. If we... I suppose if we have to take it, or break it down into two big actions, then they use, they use these things for whatever purpose they have in mind. And they maintain them. So they can be used again. And that's pretty much it.

M: Like in the kitchen, like what do people do?

R: Oh, what, you would use them for creating dishes that you wanted to make or to cook. And in the living room, well, you can play music, you can manipulate your light system the way you want it. Like all of these things. The list is endless.

M: How have modern gadgets impacted the way families interact with each other at home?

R: Well, I think the main difference is in how much less time is required for everyone to be working, together, especially. So there's comparatively more free time, which could be spent together or apart. Whereas before you would, well, you would all have to be together no matter what. It's good because people have more time for fun. But the big downside is that not being forced together, people often spend time apart.

M: In what ways have technological advancements in household appliances made life easier for people?

R: Well, again, they've taken away or reduced the need for a lot of intensive human labour in many areas, like take the washing machine, for example. You no longer need to spend hours cleaning your own socks in a river with rocks or, well, rocks and animal fat. When you could just fling them in a metal box for an hour and they come out nice and clean. And all you did was buy some washing up powder or tabs and touch a button and then you can relax or do something else.

M: Have gadgets improved the balance between work and personal life?

R: Well, that's a very interesting question. Because I often wonder if they have. I mean, we have more free time away from labour-intensive activities, similar to that, which I already mentioned. But we've invited our work into our personal spaces with home offices and smartphones. Whereas before you would leave the physical workspace with no invasion of your private sphere. And what's that? What that's resulted in is this weird imbalance in many people's lives. Of course, that's easily sold. You just agree on boundaries and turn off the notifications which is also something gadgets can be used for.

M: Are smart home devices useful?

R: Well, I can see how they might be useful. What they do essentially is allow you to control your home without lifting a finger which is quite cool and could be handy if you have some sort of disability. But is it really necessary for the average person to do this? I mean, you could literally do most of these things in about 20 seconds if you're able-bodied.