Parents and politicians lobbying for phone bans in schools and age limits on social media (Brain rot! Graphic material!) could spend some time examining their own dependence on technology (Brain rot! Graphic material!). I write this as someone who not only wastes time scrolling through clothes on Instagram and food I will never eat or cook on TikTok, but also reflexively replies to emails late at night.
Now technology is working its way into the most personal corners of our working lives. According to a spate of recent reports, employees are increasingly turning to chatbots for coaching and companionship. “I hate myself for saying it, but a big reason Gemini works [is] because it functions as the colleague with no drama,” one executive told Axios of Google’s bot, “It’s not overwhelmed from life. It won’t judge me or gossip for asking dumb or last-minute questions.”
This desire for a frictionless workplace, focused on efficiency rather than the bothersome waste of human interaction, may have been intensified by remote working. It chimes with a wider shift towards convenience, with ordering taxis, food or a new item of clothing as easy as a few swipes on our phones.