Recently I've been thinking that there is a need for some type of users group for innovation.
The main reason for an innovation users group is that people tend not to know the the level of control they have over the technology in their lives. When it comes to technology there is tendency to limit our decision making to the gadget level - meaning that there is a fixation with the style and options available, but beyond that there is very little consciousness as to the choices we make regarding technology.
This is not healthy on any level whether it be physical, fiscal, emotional, spiritual, or by whatever else one measures well being, because the choices we make (whether consciously or not) have as much an impact as any other choices we make.
The control we have over the technology is more than cosmetic. Although most people would plead to being overwhelm by complexity of the technology in their lives it is not necessary to know how to construct/instruct a computer to be able to control it's impact.
The main ways we control technology on a personal level is not by direct control of the technology, but by the amount of time, money, energy (mental, physical) we allot to the technology. Time is much a commodity as money - we need to start thinkin gof time as a luxury.
To put it succinctly technology does not create it's own importance. We give it it's importance. Television didn't create it's own vast wasteland, rather it's importance came from the amount of collective energy devoted to it. This is true of any popular technology today. At some point there was a collective agreement to it's importance.
On a personal level we can not control the popularity of a technology, but we can control it's imapct on us.
If we are to progress we need to start treating technology as more than just consumption.
