Hello, I'm FDS (@nonefffds), a tech enthusiast (used be) who also tried to host a tech-related podcast and failed, just found out I spend less and less time on tech-related content.
In fairness, I used to spend time with LinusTechTips(mostly), MKBHD, LGR, 8-bit Guy, and sometimes UnboxTherapy, Luke Miani, and Austin Evans. Even though I still can't compare myself with a hardcore tech maniac, I did follow at least most of the LTT videos during 2018-2023. And yes, I live in China, and there are some Chinese creators on bilibili I frequently watch, and they sometimes do even better quality and much more professional content over the Western world. However, this blog is written in English, and the descent of passion in the tech industry is happening to me without the border of language, exceedingly the problem in whatever places is seemingly the same, thus, I'm not going to list them all here. At least, you'll get the point.
First, let's talk about the tech industry from a very recent view. Alongside the boom of generative AI hype, one cannot say that applications by humans toward artificial intelligence have reached their final form, and the path of development is more futuristic than we can perceive today. However, that is what we have seen on the surface, the limitation of AI's applications is just like the boomerang back to themselves: the lack of fundamental backbone - which is technology infrastructure, and lack of human creation that can be used for training(not mention it has already caused protesting). We have already seen some applications trying to use generative AI as your so-called companion and their final performance is rated by the public as a big "L". All the daily use cases with only those applications can be frustrating because they cannot compete with the technology we are already familiar with, but also because AI drew so much attention to the world, the clout has covered up the stagnation in the tech industry, which the past used to also have the reach as current AI-moment but well oversaturated now.
The good 'ol days existed. When the first generation of iPhone made its debut, the company of its creator knew that they'd face loads of imitators, though I don't know if they at that time can see today as the best way to eliminate imitators is when everyone looks the same - also boring. When Vision Pro was announced, it was different in more focused user experiences, but the form factor didn't seem to alter that much. The external battery and the burden weight are not just drawbacks, but a hint of how far we can go with the current state of technologies. And don't ever forget, Nokia had its moment when phones could only do basic tasks, therefore, it made alterations based on the technologies at the time, and we left it behind when Apple revolutionized. It's unknown if Apple will have its Nokia-moment even though it's well unlikely as they silently transformed into a SAAS company, the AI already showed us the stall in our situation. The consumer technology needs another iPhone.
But we don't see the difference. Most consumers' needs are already fit, even the basic models of iPhone only have 60Hz displays but still sell rocket high can implicit the seriousness of the problem. This situation applies not only to phones but also to custom-built PCs. Even this is not the problem only subjects to big companies - the company that puts large LED strips on the back of phones and makes dot theme applied doesn't fundamentally solve the problem. Unless there's anything invented that can ultimately change our workflow completely, just like the AI... Whoops, we are backed from where we started. Thus, the situation will last longer than at least I expected.
Then we can finally set off the topic I initially introduced: why I spend less time on tech videos. Yet we have mentioned that boredom in the tech industry is one side of the story, and we are about to continue about the YouTube-y things that may have caused me to watch less.
However, I'm not going to criticize YouTube for being a platform, it's been okay and I know it has done pretty neat jobs for creators to enlarge their reach, then we have some problems. We have watched YouTube creators from the beginning and enjoyed the content from UGC(User generated contents) to PUGC(Professional user generated contents), then suffered the rise of TikTok. Yes, I dislike short videos, but we are not meant to criticize the short videos or the platform here because it's just a preference, but it indeed gives a strike to old-fashioned long videos. Nowadays, the creators are using not the only platform to distribute or monetize, and the variety of their content can get distracted by the distribution strategy. A more entertaining video or a more professional video? The entertainment leads, due to the existence of short videos, then we can see a hard shift for previous creators to adapt to the current viewers, despite the personality might not ever be suitable for the content, or started to fade out as a shopfront, forming a company or MCN to make staff write the script behind the personalities, which is pretty common for sustainability. We have seen some of the personalities do a flop, damaging their credibility and reach, not to mention that public relations management is still catastrophic for some of the creators. Sometimes confrontation between fans and other viewers does happen, but that's more like the celebrity issue when creators tend to get big, thus, I cannot make further ideas.
All in all, I do have less time to spend on tech information, not only on video platforms(but they are indeed used to be my main source), but the whole tech industry is making me less excited. Or I’m just getting old and knowing the fact that I just annoying myself? There’s no solid real answer. Maybe the only thing I can do is patiently wait until the next big thing.