Chapter 17 technology

gregarious geek The American geek, like the Jock cheerleader, punk, and rebel, refers to a figure with a fixed personality. But a funny thing happened at the Star Trek fan party.Technology went from being a thing for introverts to being a thing for extroverts.While stereotypes insist that technology geeks — people who use technology 24/7, are familiar with its terminology, and can’t wait to buy every new tech gadget — are social “losers” , but the truth is, America's most avid technology users are also America's most social people. Geeks have all but disappeared as we know them, and they may even be becoming anti-tech—seeking solace in isolation and separation.In the past, working in technology-related jobs provided an outlet for people of great talent but social aversion, who found solace in machines that responded to them in ways that humans could not.Now, technology plays the exact opposite role.With the advent of new music players like the Microsoft Zune that connect other people together, personal behaviors like listening to music alone with headphones are on the verge of becoming part of social interaction.With technology's renewed emphasis on "connection," the use of technology in society has gone far beyond the antisocial, personal goals it once had.

The implications of this for technology marketing are enormous.Tech companies once aimed their products at the pale, withdrawn dude, now they sell the notion that buying a great computer or phone is as cool as buying a nice car. A fun and social affair.Tech-savvy used to be a low-profile part of social life; now technology is at the center of friend circles and gatherings, as well as family social life. Here is some proof.In a recent survey, we asked questions related to the Myers-Briggs personality test about people's attitudes toward personal computers, cell phones, and handheld devices like Blackberries. and habits, attitudes and preferences for portable music players.If the old cliché about geeks is true, is it true that the most tech-obsessed people are the most introverted and socially averse?

In fact, quite the opposite.Although only about 49 percent of all U.S. adults are "extroverted" (defined by Myers-Briggs as someone who gets their energy from the outside world and the people around them), the most zealous Nearly 60% of technology users are extroverts.These people will read consumer electronics and digital product magazines to learn about developments in this area in advance; their friends say they are people who are familiar with the latest technology and understand the latest computer software; they hope to get a new version of the operating system.But they're also the ones who juggle home, work, and school and do it well, have the most positive attitudes toward life, and are the most committed to life.They spend more time going to the movies, exercising and outdoor sports, and listening to their latest iTunes download than those who are very reluctant to use these technologies.Compared with those who don't like to use technology, technology addicts are more willing to spend "night life and drinking in the city" as a way of pastime, and the ratio between them is more than 2:1.

The survey showed that among people who dislike technology—they buy and use technology only as a last resort—introverts outnumber extroverts by 57 percent: 43%.These people are not only not interested in technology, but also lack interest in sports, news, magazines and fashion, and they tend to have a more conservative and cautious attitude towards things around them.People who don't like to socialize don't like computers either -- which is kind of ironic because computers are associated with extroverted personalities. In fact, when we ask about their own social habits, the cliché about geeks is completely contradictory. Fifty-three percent of "super-enthusiastic" and "enthusiastic" technology people consider themselves socially savvy, compared with just 39% of technology-averse people. Fifty-eight percent of "enthusiasts" about technology say they can "easily talk to anyone else for as long as they want"; compared with just 40 percent of technology-averse people So to speak.

The contrast is even more impressive when it comes to parties. 41% of people who are very tech-savvy like to attend parties “from start to finish” compared to 24% of those who don’t use technology. Technology, once a refuge for those who didn't like social life, is now a doorstep for those with social ambitions. Perhaps the best illustration of this phenomenon is AIM (instant messenger), or facebook.com, developed by AOL, which uses social outreach technology to allow high school and college students to interact, share photos, and pass on messages. Facebook.com has more than 8 million posts and is one of the most trafficked sites in the United States, according to comScore.A more popular online community is MySpace, which was named the number one website in the United States by Hitwise in July 2006.

If the cliché of the past held that tech geeks had no friends, the reality now is that tech geeks have an astonishingly large number of friends, unimaginable. The most popular on MySpace is a person named Tila Tequila (TilaTequila), as of the spring of 2006, more than 250 million people have visited her MySpace page.Singer, fashion designer, and glamorous model, Tila • Tequila is the all-rounder and the hottest newcomer, most recently at MSNBC ( MSNBC) was interviewed by Tucker Carlson.When Tucker Carlson asked how much time she spent on MySpace responding to friends and meeting new ones, her response was, "I spend about 24 hours a day online, which is quite a lot."

So, if you want to socialize these days, be a geek.From dating sites to SMS text messages to instant messengers, people today socialize by typing on the keyboard.Or more accurately, socializing by typing acronyms. LOL stands for "laughingoutloud" (laughing out loud), and "TTFN" stands for "tatafornow" (goodbye). This new reality has provided an opportunity for a large number of publications in the field of "technological life".The technologies that serve as the glue of social life are quite different from those described in computer books or serious magazines like Wired.The web is the perfect place to write a review, but it's not about people and technology (which is yet to be written), it's about the top 10 hits celebs put into their phones, how to organize a block Prom, or which invisible Bluetooth headset Tom Cruise was seen wearing lately.

The role of technology has changed fundamentally, and those changes must extend to where it works best—into our schools.While using technology has become very social, it still has a long way to go. In 2004, the United States produced about 5,000 PhDs in psychology and fewer than 1,000 in computer science.As a result, U.S. technology companies must bring in more relevant talent from overseas because there are not enough Americans to fill the jobs in the new high-tech fields.As more and more gregarious geeks are now parents, they'll encourage their kids to visit basic science exhibits or enter web design contests.Several sponsored robotics competitions are being held.But want to give the enjoyment of those who proclaim "my son is the king of the internet" or "my daughter is a computer whiz" the same enjoyment as those who proclaim "my child is a doctor" or "my child is a lawyer" I have received as many honors, I am afraid it will take some time.Only then, when this generation of social geeks raise their next generation to be social geeks, will learning and using technology realize its full potential.

Tech beauty We just disproved the notion that people who love high technology and newly invented computers are people who hate socializing.In fact, research shows that, unlike ever before, tech geeks are some of the most social people in the world. But among these people, some – indeed, they are the most neglected group – are the techfatales: these women and girls who not only use technology, but drive, shape and determine the vast majority of consumption consumption of electronic products in the United States. For example, when you look at your clunky, 8-pound "laptop," do you imagine that the ratio of money spent on technology by women and men is 3:2?Yes - the 24-hour tech commercials on TV are aimed at people who want early access to the technology, but it's the Claire's enamored who are buying home phones and iPods all at once shoppers.

do you know?BlackBerry lanyards are no better for clothing than pager lanyards were 15 years ago, yet women now influence almost 57 percent of tech spending, and in 2006, consumer electronics sales were about $90 billion. As we'll talk about women buying cars later, this isn't just a gradual trend.It's not a Brave New World-esque prophecy in which e-commerce and electronics someday require estrogen in the brain to design them.That day has come.When it comes to buying tech gadgets, women are always in the driving seat.They are the main force in the law school, the main force in the university, and the main force in the electorate.Now, women are also leading the rush to buy high-tech products that are sweeping the country.

Especially those young girls, even more so.Girls are more likely to use cell phones than boys, according to statistics from the Consumer Electronics Association. (Girls:83 percent use cell phones, 54 percent:50 percent digital cameras, 24 percent:18 percent satellite radios, and 21 percent:19 percent DVD recorders.) Girls It is the same rate that boys use TVs, VCRs, DVD players and personal computers.The only products where girls are lagging behind in usage are portable MP3 players and video game consoles - even so, Nintendo took a big step forward when it introduced a new console, the Wii, in 2006, designed not only with Boys, with girls in mind, it sold better than analysts expected. I still clearly remember that in 1976, the Science Center at Harvard was basically an all-boys group, and there were not many girls engaged in academic research in mathematics and natural sciences.But girls are now important users of technology.After all, the primary use of many technologies today is for communication, and girls love to communicate with their friends. Yet, when you walk into a Best Buy store, don't you notice the eyes of the blue-shirted salespeople or those hyper-enthusiastic "Geek Squads" on the female customers?Don't any women put RadioShack on their list of favorite stores to visit?If you look at the name alone, these stores will not attract customers.While Apple's (AAPL) new, pastel-colored stores generally attract more customers, no company has yet opened a tech store geared specifically towards women. To be fair, these stores know they are missing out.For this reason, Best Buy has just begun to implement a plan that will be implemented for several years: store lights should be soft, music should be soft, and customers should be provided with personalized shopping advice.It even retrained employees so that, in addition to noticing the pixels of the camera, they could also ask customers how they wanted technology to be more relevant to their lives.Even Ruidiyou is now aggressively recruiting female store managers, and has about 1,000 of its 7,000 stores.But, like car dealerships, the shift is slow.Nearly 75 percent of women still feel that electronics store salespeople ignore, belittle or even offend them.Forty percent of women said they would be treated better if they were surrounded by a man. But the truth is, tech babes have a deeper meaning to the industry than just sales and marketing.First of all, women should not be ignored.It has been widely reported that when the first generation of state-of-the-art videoconferencing systems were adopted, product developers forgot about the decibel range of female voices.If a man and a woman say the same thing, the camera's recording system will not be able to record the woman's voice. But only at the beginning.Through repeated studies, women expressed different overarching needs, different preferences, and different concerns about technology when it came to product utility and design.They want the new products they use to be lightweight, durable, and effective—not constantly updated, straight, and angular. Women, at least according to one major electronics company, want keyboards that won't break their fingernails, headphones that won't smudge their makeup, and phones they can easily find in the dark, in overstuffed backpacks. .After all, if women are still unable or unwilling to wear PDAs on their belts like men because they are afraid of finding out that the radiation from the mobile phone will have adverse effects on the womb after many years, then there must be a way for them to carry them in their backpacks anyway. Find the buzzing phone without having to dig through their stuff in public or simply miss the call. When it comes to home appliances, women want products that complement living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens without taking up too much space.Therefore, most women choose flat-screen TVs.Slender, ultra-thin and elegant, this style of television doesn't immediately evoke a Sunday afternoon football game.Sharp recently produced a flat-screen TV with the tender-sounding name, the AQUOS, that was advertised not only on prime-time sports channels but also on Lifetime and on FoodNetwork. However, it is obvious that women's acceptance of technology has become a fashion, and the market potential of this area has been greatly underestimated.Cell phones studded with dazzling diamonds are clearly in demand, as are bejeweled phones from some of the hottest designers in women's fashion.Yes, there are some laptop bags out there now with some weaving, contrasting piping, and fancy side pockets, but we're far from fully exploiting those new inventions of personal style and their Potential market for accessories.Ask any modern woman if she would rather lose her cell phone than her latest pair of shoes.The mobile phone takes center stage in a woman's circle of friends and family.But when it comes to connecting the deepest parts of a woman's personality with fashion, is the only thing a tech company can do is design a keyboard that's either blue or black? The Starbucks economy is going technology-the Ford economy, represented by monochrome computers and laptops, is going dead.Sony has started making colorful laptops, Apple has allowed engraved iPods, and Dell is making changes to make its products more attractive.There are more and more choices of mobile phone holders. But in the coming years, the most important question for designers of technological products will remain "what women want."Does Windows designed for women look fundamentally different from Windows Vista?Before anything else in the industry has been touched upon, the tobacco industry has become a model for offering different products for men and women - different brands of the same product attract different men and women.Is there really any essential difference between Virginia Slims and Marlboro cigarettes?The tech industry is changing, but some industries have been masculine for so long that products haven't been developed specifically for women.As with the women who buy cars, the reality is that the market is there, but the industry isn't—and there will soon be someone who will capture this in a completely different way. If there is no trend, then what he occupies is not just a small market, but the fastest-growing market among technological miracles.If you're a tech babe, you're not alone -- you're out there waiting, and there's always someone out there to listen to your needs.