The future of work without screens?

Many many years ago, when I was about five, our family moved to AJK* for two years. It was there that I received my very first ever tablet for smart learning.? School was basic, we’d sit on bricks in a school playground and learning lasted for no more than three to four hours very early each morning before it got too hot. Except for Fridays and random other days which I never quite got the hang of. Remember, I was five(ish).

Every student had a small wooden board (the tablet) for learning to write. I was confused when I received mine, thinking it was a weird bat or paddle at first. The board or takhti** along with a reed pen (kalam) would go in my bag with books every morning before school and evening after homework.? If there was no ink, we’d apply a thin layer of soft clay onto the takhti and once dry scratch away at it with the pen. The only constraints on learning were the limits of the teacher, and the heat of the day. Hopefully I didn’t miss too much of the crucial early years curriculum of the late 80s and through the tireless support of my folks, siblings and teachers, seven(ish) year old me caught up quickly.????

Now, the father of a five year old, I’ve recently reflected on how these first steps in learning are starkly different. I’ve followed and mixed my intellectual curiosities and over the past few weeks I’ve been exploring the world of screenless living. A particular focus has been on how we learn and work.? Information design has leaped lightyears from the simple wooden boards, some of which still adorn our public spaces with names carved into and painted onto them. Information density and complexity has grown exponentially. How we wrap our minds around this is one of the challenges that we all square up to regularly.

With a pressing need for us to curb our consumerist appetite to fight climate breakdown, I’ve been exploring the possibilities of regenerative work futures lived away from our screens.??

This article explores the current runners and riders in the screen vs screen-less future and asks a big question which I humbly invite you to reflect and comment upon.

Screen-less what?!??

I think now’s a good time for a slight detour down memory lane to set the scene. We can learn alot about the cares and concerns of our modern society by looking at what big tech companies are introducing into their products via the latest OS releases.?

A few years ago, back in 2018 Apple introduced screen time. Apple knew back then that something big was going on with our screen habits. It acted with clear intent.? The result is a plaster on a bigger problem that is increasingly impacting us and our lives.

Going further back, when the original iPhone was launched, our iPod love affair evolved to include better hand held screens, initially falling for a 3.5in screen. The latest one is 6.1 inches.? That’s nearly double the size of the screen over 16 years. Phone screens could be even bigger (exceptions include folding phones and phablets).? The main brake on this trend has been how slowly our thumbs are getting longer, sadly not doubling in size every decade…

The tech inside our modern glass, metal and plastic miracles has largely stayed the same in those 16 years. Sure we’ve lost buttons, added gyroscopes, revolutionised battery life, processor power, memory and cameras (back and front). Language like ‘there’s an app for that’ or ‘swipe right’ is now commonplace.?

The infrastructure has also jumped lightyears. Data now flows to and from our devices in faster, fatter and more dense streams. The crucial change underpinning the need to step back and look at our tech took place in the shadows.?

Companies have capitalised on all this tech innovation through stealthily slicing up our attention and selling it wholesale to anyone and everyone.?

And here lies the problem.? We’ve become overwhelmed by screens - I’ve got about 4 screens within eyeshot as I write this (well 3 and a remarkable2).??

Loss of focus due to screen and social addiction has become such a problem that productivity tech is now a thing. Just take a minute to reflect on that, Productivity-tech. Madness! Surely all tech is about productivity?!?

Something in our tech based lives is clearly not quite right.?

Screens though, are they really that bad?!

Not in moderation. Crucially, post pandemic, we’re spending loads more of our time at screens and it's not going well. Here’s how:??

• Direct impact on mental and physical health from our screens?
• Sedentary lifestyle impact on our lives - Sitting is the new cancer?
• Focus and attention depletion - We have to battle content saturation and disruption before we can form ideas and thoughts. Mind noise is at an all time high.

What’s going the other way?

The opposite of screen-less is virtual immersion.? AR/VR tech like Microsoft’s Hololens, Magic Leap, Meta and others.? The ferocity of our collective interest here may have quietened down a bit but the tech is holding a strong pulse and itching for a gap to kill off screen based tech.

So that’s the screens, problems and the face-worn screen future.?

Let’s turn our focus to screen-less.?

Different companies have taken their own unique approach so let’s meet the runners and riders:

Turning down the addiction

Devices

• Nothing phone - Glyph design to give you information without a screen. Software that tunes out distraction
• The light phone - a social media free pared back device

Software

• Ratio by blloc ?- Minimalist OS for android phones

Getting rid of screens altogether

• MyManu Titan - smart earphones
• Humane Tech AIPin - A pin that you talk to through headphones that can project information to your hand with a body worn camera for all!?

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Screenless notes:?

• Remarkable2:? an e-ink tablet that you can doodle on like an iPad

Before we land the question here’s a quick recap::

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How did we get here?

• Screen based tech has been unchallenged for a very long time (in terms of tech lifecycles)
• VR and AR have had multiple unsuccessful attempts to become the default for our information rich lives ?
• With progresses in AI augmentation, screen-less tech is evolving to create alternative tech experiences like the Humane AI Pin.? We’re seeing a recapture of our attention through non-screen based tech, driven by voice command and presenting information on a projecting laser (a simpler screen?)
• E-ink and other smart devices are evolving to break us away from screens
• You still need a screen to process the information with the focus on immediate action without needing a screen

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Ok. Why’s this a problem?

• We’re so used to screens now that any alternative seems far-fetched
• Screens have dominated almost all aspects of our lives, getting away from them is not easy and investing in alternatives is a tough sell
• We’re overloaded with information. Fatter pipes and smarter systems mean that we couldn’t possibly process it all. Rather than minimising the information load we’re abdicating our responsibility to automated helpers
• In today's attention economy, screen-time is fiercely competed over by lots of different players, with more innovative and less ethical ways of keeping us hooked to screens?
• Innovation is driving us to be more comfortable spending longer periods in front of screens and the harm to human connection, our mental health and relationships is significant.

So here's the big question:?

How might we decouple work from screens without losing the efficiency that tech offers??

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Did you know that Teamory offers a Digital Detox Service? To find out more about how we could? help you and your teams with healthier digital habits in 2024 please message me.?

*please 谷歌 it

** the word takht means Throne in Urdu (and probably other languages). In my five year old brain takhti eventually translated to ‘Throne-ette’. Knowledge from a very early age in that part of the world is sacred from day dot.?