The Arc of Technology: From Fun Option to Obligation

A few weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg announced the Meta Orion AR glasses. They're pretty much a smartphone and laptop rolled into Raybans you wear on your face. Unlike Apple’s VR goggles, you can (probably) wear on your face in public and it won’t get you laughed at. The glasses serve up a virtual layer over everything you’re looking at. They’ll highlight whatever’s in front of you, let you video chat with someone, translate into foreign languages, pull up web browsers or stream videos straight into your line of sight.

Glasses are a visual overlay over your face, it can open up another world for how people engage with the world.

You can kind of imagine the world differently with glasses instead of smartphones. You walk into a café, slip on your Ray-Bans. You sit down at a table, a massive screen and keyboard appears, but only you can see it. No phone. No laptop. Everything you need is right there, in your line of sight.

The Smartphone Has Been an Aesthetic Disaster

Zuck thinks his glasses will change the world and. will replace the phones and laptops. Maybe he’s right. Apple announced it isn’t doing yearly updates to iPhones anymore. They ran out of ideas for the phone. It’s a square rectangular glass piece. The phone has reached its final form. Incremental updates may tweak the camera or slightly enhance processing power, but the transformative leaps are over. The future of personal tech now faces a crossroads: either we continue relying on this established tool, carrying around a piece of glass in our pockets, or we shift to something new—likely a more immersive and integrated form of computing.

The phone is addictive and has wrecked a lot of the beauty of day-to-day life. People hunched over, spines curved, scrolling through endless feeds on the streets, in cafes, in line at the grocery store. Humanity is half-present. Sometimes with dangerous consequences

Getting rid of the phone or laptop might actually make the world look better. Imagine that. No more hunched bodies, no more people glued to screens, backs curved like question marks. You walk down the street and look around. People aren't hidden behind phones. It's like we’re finally breathing again, standing straight, faces up, eyes forward. The world’s simpler, cleaner, less cluttered.

You wear the glasses when you need them, then slide them up into your hair or clip them to your shirt when you don’t. They disappear. Suddenly, you’re not carrying your entire life around in a bulky backpack. You’re lighter, you’re moving freely, hands in your pockets, nothing weighing you down.

Maybe we can finally get rid of backpacks in public. I hate lugging my backpack around with my laptop and charger inside. It’s uncomfortable, messes with my gait, and ruins any outfit I’m wearing. It is not elegant, makes everyone look like a student, and they wreck your clothes.

Briefcases, folios or tote bags are better options, but I don’t think we’re going back to them, quite frankly. The only hope is probably moving the entire computer experience to glasses.

Fun At First But Then An Obligation

But then it hit me—what if the glasses go from being a fun, optional gadget to an obligation? What if they replace the smartphone, and now everyone has to wear them all the time? At first, it’s exciting, sure. But what happens when it’s not a choice anymore? When wearing them is just mandatory.

Technology always follows a pattern: it starts as a fun, optional upgrade that gives you an edge. You feel more free, doing things others can’t. But then mass adoption happens, and society shifts. What was once optional becomes mandatory. The magic fades, and all that's left is obligation.

The writer Herbert Marcuse wrote about ‘technological rationality,’ the way technology initially liberates but ultimately confines us within its own systems. Over time, the excitement of the new fades, and the obligation settles in.

You can see it all around us

• At first, having a smartphone was cool—easy access to email, maps, whatever. It gave you a little edge over people who didn’t have one. But then everyone got one. It went from a luxury to something you couldn’t live without. Now, it’s not optional. You can’t really function without it. You use it for everything—buying tickets, paying bills, even basic stuff like logging into your bank account. What started as convenience turned into a requirement.

• Look at dating apps. They used to be an option, something you could try if you wanted. But now? If you’re not on one, you could be at a disadvantage in the market. Want a good chance at meeting someone? They’re almost mandatory.

  

• You can’t live without email now. It’s evolved from checking your inbox at a desk to having Outlook on your phone, constantly connected. You’re checking work emails all day, even when you’re not supposed to.

The shift happens for a simple reason. When a new technology first comes out, only a few people have it, and that gives you an edge. There’s no pressure to use it all the time. You can engage with it on your terms, no obligation, no expectation.

Take cell phones back in the day. Hardly anyone had your number, so you could make calls when you wanted, without being bombarded by incoming texts or emails. You had control. Now? You spend most of the day responding to calls, answering emails. What started as an option is now a constant demand, and it’s inescapable.

The Dystopian Scenario of Mass Adoption of Glasses

Let’s examine glasses going from fun option, to permanent obligation. It can be a scary future. Companies, schools, and even governments begin optimizing their services for glasses like they did for smartphones. The pressure to wear them will build. You’ll feel out of place at work or a party if you’re not wearing them.

Just as smartphones made it normal to be reachable at all times, glasses would take that a step further. With notifications, messages, and calls projected directly into your vision, there would be no physical barrier between you and the digital world. The ability to "unplug" would essentially disappear because the glasses would become part of your everyday perception. Constant connection becomes the baseline, and opting out becomes a form of social or professional isolation.

Just as smartphones have turned digital spaces into battlegrounds for ads and consumerism, glasses could turn the physical world into a marketing space. Walking past a store would no longer be just walking past—it would be layered with personalized ads, offers, and suggestions, all aimed at influencing your behavior in real time. The commercialization of our visual field could fundamentally alter how we experience the world, making even mundane activities feel like a hyper-targeted sales pitch.

A Chore First But Then Fun

But there’s another category, one that works in reverse. Things that start as a terrible obligation but eventually become a fun option, improving your life over time. These are the things that tend to last—they're Lindy-compatible. Nature seems to be signaling this as the right path. It’s the exact opposite of adopting new technology.

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