Tech Words Suck

But there’s a problem.

Let’s say you start reading a news article about a tech word which we’ll call X. The author nicely included a couple of sentences explaining X. Unfortunately, the explanation does nothing for you — it looks like the author copied the first few lines from X’s Wikipedia page. Turns out the author doesn’t understand X either. Feeling proactive, you decide to try learning about X yourself.

Chances are you find two things:

So you’re out of luck. Even worse, you start to think it’s your fault X doesn’t make sense. You begin to believe that you aren’t a “technical person” and it’d better to stay away from tech words in the future.

It’s like a bad day in kindergarten — there are a few kids that get to play with these words and everyone else is left watching from the outside.

Yeah, tech words suck.

To see why tech words become so sucky take a look at this helpful diagram.

Notice how there’s no “take the time to explain this word to everyone” step. We skip over that and go straight to “use this word everywhere and claim it’s better than sliced bread”. This is where the suckiness arises.

To be fair, these words often refer to very complex ideas and they are quite new. Is it possible my diagram is incomplete and the “take the time to explain this word to everyone” step comes later?

I don’t think so.

Why? Because 99% of people would struggle to explain the most important tech word out there. A word that’s been around since 90’s — which is more than enough time to get around to explaining it. A word you would have a hard time going a day without.

Very few people can answer this question — give it a shot.

What is the Internet and how does it work?

If you struggled to come up with an answer don’t feel bad. You’re in good company. When I asked a few of my friends the same question here were the responses:

Once upon a time “Internet” was the hottest tech word on the block. Now it has become a cornerstone of everyday life. But throughout that transition we never got around to explaining WHAT the Internet actually is.

Tech already comes off as intimidating and frustrating. Tech is usually associated with its unpopular cousin, math. And it’s painfully frustrating when your computer/WiFi/phone doesn’t do what you want it to. Tack on a bunch of confusing, unexplained words and you’ve got a recipe for a lot people who are uncomfortable with technology.

People are getting turned off by technology — whether that’s from being confused by tech words or getting pissed off at a computer that doesn’t work. If a person’s relationship with tech turns sour, they start to see their computer more as an enemy than a tool. They stop looking into the technology they purchase and use. They avoid tech related news and conversations assuming that they wouldn’t get it.

That’s bad news because technology isn’t going anywhere. Tech will continue to reshape the way we live. Every new technology brings important decisions. As a society we must decide how to use tech responsibly and ethically through laws and regulations. Each of us must decide what technologies we are going to purchase, rely on, and give our time.

Not to get too doomsday-y, but consider what happens if a majority of people have disengaged with technology and leave this important decision making up to “the people that get it.” That puts a lot of power into the hands of a much smaller group. Typically in these sorts of situations someone gets screwed over.

Americans saw a hint of this in 2017 with the change to regulations involving net neutrality. It’s difficult to discuss net neutrality without an understanding of how the Internet works (Note: net neutrality is also a tech word — it’s not uncommon for tech words to build on each other). Americans without that understanding were ultimately unable to join the conversation. The future will be full of these technical conversations and it will be important that everyone is able to form and express their own opinions.

Everyone can develop an understanding and appreciation for technology, regardless of education and experience. The problem is a lack of good resources. Google How does the Internet work and you’ll get a bunch of detailed, boring articles for academics/programmers and short paragraph write ups aimed at children.

Project Decode is the middle ground. Here you’ll find articles about tech that, after reading, you’ll feel confident to discuss, form opinions, and research these topics further. We’ll do it without any advanced math and computer programming (and hopefully, make it entertaining too).

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