THE EXTENSION

Exploring topics beyond our day-to-day coverage.

Tech Anxiety and Dealing with the News Firehose

• Jonathan

I don’t think I’m the only one who’s recently had the feeling that tech news is becoming more toxic – that more and more product releases have this semi-political commentary or opinion attached to them. What is a photo? Is AI making a positive difference? Should we have more choices regarding what apps we put on our devices and from where? It can become a bit much. Has the joy of tech news disappeared?

Let’s be clear: I love tech. I love reading about it, I love listening to people talk about it, and I love writing about it. I don’t think that will ever go away. But sometimes, I almost feel like I’m punishing myself getting worked up about the latest generative AI slop machine or some new hateful/just plain stupid thing that Elon Musk has said. (And now, he’s crossing over into politics, which is delightful.) These things can build up to the point that I occasionally feel like it’s hard to find the “good” tech stories.