A funny thing’s happened in the last few years; most technology has gotten pretty good. Almost gone are the days of crummy smartphones with indecipherable interfaces and desktop operating systems overrun with crapware.
So with most popular tech products at parity, how do you choose one over the other? Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times offers a compelling solution: Consider the company as well as the product.
How to Survive the Next Era of Tech
My advice: Don’t just consider how well a product works, but look at who’s making it and how it is sold. Before you dive into any new doodad, consider a company’s ethics, morals, branding and messaging. If you aren’t comfortable, look to alternatives. (Last year, for instance, I switched to Lyft from Uber, and I’ve never looked back.) Most important, when you’re choosing tech, it’s wise to consider the business model — because it’s in the buying and the selling of a product, rather than in the using, that you can best figure out its dangers.
But because Google makes most of its money from ads, and because the internet ad business lies at the heart of just about every terrible thing online, I’d rather not fall deeper into that swamp.
— Farhad Manjoo
