Analog Systems and the Urge to Digitize

21 Apr 2016 2-minute read

As you might, or might not, know I’m currently active as a consultant in the IT sector. Because of this I work almost exclusively on digital platforms. With one exception, I keep most of my to do’s in a notebook. The reason for this is because I, honestly, like to scratch those to do’s. It’s a pure mental thing.

Today one of my colleagues saw this and jokingly said “You do know they have apps for that, right?”. I laughed, acknowledged and continued to scratch a to do.

This got me thinking however, why do we have such a high need to digitize everything we do, touch or think. And it’s not just in our sector, it’s everywhere. Think about it, we want to automate our cars, our houses, the appliances in our houses, certain work which forces employees to reconsider their career. Just about everything. We even have automated pets. Don’t believe me? You can find more info on those on the TED website.

Now I do admit, there are certain things that are better in digital form. Calendars, for one, come to mind. Without digitization this would be a pain to keep in check. Social media, as another, has it’s perks that contribute to the reason to digitize our communication. Even though they might “alienate” us from each other they do have added value to our lives.

But we have to admit to ourselves that sometimes we just try and take things too far. Art for example created by the old masters can now be reproduced by machine. Don’t take me wrong, digital art can be nice. Yet when a machine creates it we have to wonder what makes it beautiful. It can not be the love that the artist put in the work, nor can we say that the art has a soul to it.

Why do we like to do things digital and not analog? Think about it and feel free to let me know your reasons on twitter with the hashtag #analogToDigital.