WHEN did technology become a lifestyle concern?
In the early days, if a computer company called a press conference, it would more likely attract writers from specialized trade papers than reporters from the mainstream press. I remember days when there were only two publications covering a tech story, neither of them a general-interest newspaper.
This began to change as technology went mainstream. Soon, daily newspapers began to cover technology-related stories in their business pages. Later, they also had their own technology pages.
In the last few years, however, another change took place. All of a sudden, lifestyle writers were being invited to cover technology stories, too. This coincided with the arrival of trendy cell phones and glossy magazines that featured shapely women holding up shiny gadgets. Techno-babes, we used to call them. Some of these magazines offered solid technology advice; others just ran the pictures and were no more than brochures and fluff stitched together.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to put a softer edge on technology. Adjectives began to replace technical specs. People who didn’t know the difference between a BIOS and an OS were writing about computers, too. Marketing was in, editorial scrutiny was out.
It’s wonderful that technology is being popularized, but do we really have to dumb it down too much?
At a press launch for a popular MP3 player last October, I remember a roomful of people from the newspapers and magazines, oohing on cue like trained seals, egged on by the speaker and the prospect of a raffle at the end of the presentation. Is this how journalists should behave? I asked myself, just before I left.
Said one writer at a more recent press event: “I’m not really into the technical details.” I thought: Then why are you covering technology? Shouldn’t we all at least try to know what we’re writing about?
