> Of course nowadays days I see the downsides of these devices and we're getting to a point where the cons outweigh the pros, but back when I bought the first smart phone (I guess in 2012 or so, I was relatively late to the party) it felt like a leap into the future compared to what I had before.

I know a lot of people have a troubled relationship to their phone, but this is really surprising to me. Would I want to go back to a world where I can't conveniently contact people, navigate the world, look up anything I want to know in an second, and set timers by yelling at the air rather than getting sticky foccacia dough in the cracks of my egg timer? Not even a little bit.

The last time I personally felt the excitement the author describes was probably with the announcement of Apple Vision Pro, but unfortunately that product went nowhere.

I bought a flip phone that blocks web browsers and social media apps.

All other apps work though.

Best of both worlds.

> set timers by yelling at the air rather than getting sticky foccacia dough in the cracks of my egg timer?

I know it's mainly in jest, but this always strikes me as an odd example of 'high tech'. It feels like a 'first you create the universe' solution to using an egg timer with doughy fingers. Egg timers are simple devices that clean easy and can handle dough transfer. They are (or perhaps only 'were ') built as fit for purpose.

Yes, it's just an extra thing the 'high tech' can do, but damn it's an awful example of the (reached) potential of high tech.

A better example could be:

I can ask the air to buy me a big mac and have it paid for and delivered to my house within 30 minutes all while I'm changing a nappy and putting the baby to bed. There's a whole stack of systems needing to communicate to make that thing happen.