Article
A bit of tech journalism nit-picking…
From a New York Times article about text messaging and the return of the thumb, comes this quote:
“The thumb is the new power digit,” said Edward Tenner, a science historian for the Smithsonian Institution who has spent time thinking about the interaction between hand and machine.
Allow me to dissect this most absurd sentence…
“The thumb is the new power digit.”
This claim is not only dubious and a bit silly, but totally out of context in the article and in our society. What is a power digit? And why was the thumb not a power digit until now? As for the claim itself: How does the ability to type inefficiently on a device never intended for text input and not terribly effective at textual communication make the thumb powerful at all? Text input on a phone is like the awkward younger brother of “real” text entry with a QWERTY keyboard. Wouldn’t that make the thumb second-rate in a world where ability to enter text is apparently a good determination of importance?
“…Edward Tenner, a science historian for the Smithsonian Institution…”
Sounds fancy, but what would a science historian know about cell phones — or thumbs? Science and technology are not the same thing (Prof. Schatzberg taught me that last semester), and the cell phone is hardly historical.
“…who has spent time thinking about the interaction between hand and machine.”
Oh, here we go. The missing qualification. But what’s the big deal?
I’ve spent time thinking about how people use technology, but the New York Times didn’t quote me. Is thinking at the Smithsonian more valuable than other kinds of thinking? In the next paragraph, the writer tells us that Dr. Tenner has written a book (Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology) about human/machine interactions. This is a much better qualification than his (precious, scholarly) time spent thinking.
Of course, none of this really matters. It was still an interesting article, and I read it front to back. I just wish that Matt Richtel (the Times writer) could come up with more appropriate qualifications for his sources.