There’s really no way to stop the evolution of technology. The more we desire access to things at the touch of a button, or hell, through our eyeballs, the more a means to supply what we demand will materialize. With Google Glass that day has arrived. Yet, as many are finding out, the world around the Google Glass wearer isn’t so open or appreciative of having its midst invaded by a walking cyborg-person wearing a face-computer gawping at the world and everyone in it as if monkeys in a zoo cage. In short: “Hey! You! Your robo-face is making me feel uncomfortable, jerk!”
If we break it down into the most base terms, people don’t like to be openly gawked at by anyone. It’s a predatory instinct. We are by nature uncomfortable feeling like prey. This is the reason why we can feel when someone is staring at us even when our backs are turned — and usually the face in response given to the gawker has a combination of wide eyes and flared nostrils — the universal sign, no matter the species, of “back off, douchebag.” But what we’re finding is that along with internet surfing and answering email, gawping is what Google Glass is meant to do. How one goes about it, is what’s becoming subjective.
Frankly, it appears Google hasn’t been able to figure out how to make this new technology not make the wearer look 1) like a pretentious asshole 2) like a pretentious asshole who doesn’t care about common courtesy or privacy.
And that may be a major flaw — in that it’s been left up to people to determine the parameters — and people are the worst judges of good and bad, which is why wearers are often looked at as being “creepy” for having the device to begin with. Despite the fact that Google had to release some basic guidelines on how to co-exist with other humans while wearing this eyeball doohickey, the overzealous nature of some owners has caused them to ignore the very basic tenants of being a considerate human being Google has tried to instill.
Google says wearers should:
- Explore the world around you
- Take advantage of the Glass voice commands
- Ask for permission.(especially if you plan on recording random people in public. WHO DOES THIS WHO ISN’T CREEPY, GOOGLE?!)
- Use screen lock
- Be an active and vocal member of the Glass Explorer Community. (Yep, report back on how you’ve infringed on someone’s privacy today!)
Wearers should not:
- Glass-out (“If you find yourself staring off into the prism for long periods of time you’re probably looking pretty weird to the people around you. So don’t read War and Peace on Glass.” )
- Rock Glass while doing high-impact sports
- Wear it and expect to be ignored
- Be creepy or rude (aka, a “Glasshole”) (“In places where cell phone cameras aren’t allowed, the same rules will apply to Glass. If you’re asked to turn your phone off, turn Glass off as well.”
Is it unfair to say that only pretentious assholes are using this thing anyway, and as such, it’s hard-wired to fail?
This week Buzzfeed reports that Google Glass’ biggest cheerleader, Robert Scoble who once claimed that he would never take the device off, now admits to some deficits. He notes that “Google has launched this product poorly.” He also said to HuffPo, “If Glass actually worked the way I’m dreaming of I would be even more addicted to our online world than I am today. People are scared of losing their humanness. […] They are right to be scared of that,” he wrote. He also says that in his experience there is a creepiness factor.
“What is going on here in a world where I am carrying around a camera and EVERYONE uses their phones or a GoPro but Glass feels freaky and weird? Google has launched this product poorly, is what. But wearable technology needs a different set of skills than Google has. What? Empathy.”
Let’s be clear, the middle-aged Scoble, he of the infamous shower Google Glass photo, was also labeled “creepy” for (Christ!) wearing the device into public restrooms, and for using it to talk to, and take pictures of, high school girls.
So, yes, possibly Google overestimated our collective desire to be so detached from the real world, and so invested in online happenings that our pocket computers aren’t enough. At present there is a sociological, psychological, and philosophical aversion out there to this latest attempt to disengage from humanity using a more prominent barrier than we’ve ever had before and provided by Google. Google, of which, so far doesn’t seem all that interested in the social responsibility of its Glass users beyond the aforementioned guidelines. So naturally there’s broadening public fear of creeps taking pictures and/or video of random women or men and posting them to his/her personal shrine/stalk bulletin board.
It’s been up to non-users i.e. those not part of Google’s futuristic in-crowd to create push-back, and the push back in some instances has taken the form of outright banning its use in some establishments. One of which resulted from the Sarah Slocum, a San Francisco social media and business consultant, incident wherein she claims she was the victim of a hate crime (not kidding) when her Google Glass surfing in a local San Francisco bar led patrons to allegedly accost her for staring at them with the glasses on. Some blame Slocum for not using common sense when it came to wearing the tech, while others say “It’s just like a smartphone!” As Gizmodo reports, no, it’s not like a smartphone at all!
For many of us, a computer that’s literally sitting on our face for every waking moment sounds really socially alienating. Say what you want about the punctures smartphones have delivered to everyday interaction, but at least those things go back to our purses and pockets when they’re not being used. But Glass is there to stay, becoming a part of your face, and turning you into a baby-scaring cyborg. Unless everyone in the world gets a pair and simultaneously agrees this is no longer weird, what functionality is worth being the guy with the robo-face? While we struggle to imagine Google Glasses reconciled with normal life, Google isn’t sweating it—normal life isn’t an issue.
For their part, Google just thinks we’re a bunch of dumb humans who like the Neanderthals before us will either get with the program once we accept fire and evolutionize, or die out once our heads are replaced with mega-screens that showcase our emotions with flashing lights and Kanye West lyrics.
“As the [Glass] Explorer Community grows,” Google explains, “so does their collective wisdom.”
Image via Wikimedia.
