You know how in tng/ds9/voy they're always comically juggling different padds?
And like, okay, that's probably because writers in the 80s-90s couldn't fully accept huge amounts of information being zipped between one or two smart devices that everyone has on them at all times. Same for like, why padds, combadges, tricorders, and personal computers were all seperate instead of everyone having a space smartphone, right? Because seeing technology that looks less advances than what we're used to really makes the scifi unbelievable to the modern viewer, right?
Well, I have an alternate, in-universe explanation. Studies repeatedly show that the way we use our devices is objectively bad for us. We can't ditch the tech completely because of all its benefits, but our mental and physical health is taking a toll. It's at a point where some companies are making "minimalist" phones and tablets that are intentionally dumbed down, giving only what's nexessary to participate in society without all of the harmful side effects.
Then you have companies like freewrite making digital type writers so that people can get the pros of typing on a laptop without the everything else that a laptop comes with:
And these devices just strike me as so Star Trek? And it made me think that maybe the future of technology isn't about one super powerful device that you feel obligated or compelled to have on you at all times even if it's shit for your wellbeing, but about starting to simplify our everyday technology so it works for us.
Considering the state of technology today, I think it makes perfect sense for a socialist utopia to start cracking down on what industries are allowed to churn out and for people to start using devices similar to these new phones and personal writers described above. Someone in trek can still do and access everything that we can do and access today, but breaking down these devices by function does seem to make them more grounded in reality. Does social media exist in trek? Tbh I hope not, and if it does, it seems to have a much loser grip on everyone's time and wellbeing, presumedly because it's not being run by giant corporations desperately trying to sell and exploit all our information. I think that the way technology — personal computers, communicators, and padds — are used in Star Trek to be ultimately comforting. The idea that we can advance technology without becoming devoted to and exploited by it is so, so soothing.
Anyway, the irony doesn't escape me that I'm writing this post on a smartphone and posting it on tumblr, but oh well.