It’s okay to be overwhelmed by new technology (especially if you’re a technologist)

Photo credit: Matt Paul Catalano via Unsplash

I’ve been overwhelmed by new technology many times in my life.

When I got my first microcomputer as a teenager, there was very little to help me make sense of it, other than the manual that it came with, some computer magazines, and the efforts of my friends, who were trying to understand their own computers. This new language seemed like a wall of gibberish, with no way to gain purchase.

When I first moved from a corporate environment to a startup environment in the dot com era, I realised that there was a whole new web based technology stack that had sprung up while I wasn’t paying attention, and that I needed to learn in order to lead my team effectively. The skills I had learnt over years of professional work suddenly felt obsolete.

And now, in the era of AI, it seems that we are all running to keep up, as new tools and techniques are launched every day, often accompanied by breathless commentary on social media, ready to tell you that existing models have just been ‘destroyed’ and that if you’re not using the very latest technology, you are already falling behind.

These are just a few examples: there are many other times when, despite working for many years as a technology leader, surrounded by experts, and with information just an Internet search (or a prompt away), I have felt flummoxed and adrift, a few steps behind the leading thinking of my own profession.

It may seem that this feeling is a product of our digital age, and started with the invention of the digital computer or the growth of the Internet. But it is not new: it has been a feature of human history for centuries. Next time you marvel at the fluency of an AI model, imagine that you are hearing recorded sound for the first time, or reading a message transmitted over telegraph wires, or riding on a steam train, or seeing printed words on a page. That feeling of awe, that feeling that the world has just changed, must have been ever more overwhelming than the experience of seeing some words in a browser.

Fortunately, compared to other technologies, we have an advantage when it comes to computing. While we could attempt to create our own phonogram, or lay our own telegraph wire, or build our own printing press or steam engine, that would require time and resources that most of us don’t have. But working directly with the latest technology and AI tools is often just a click, a download or a web page away.

My remedy, when feeling overwhelmed by new technology, is to try to build something. It may be no more than a hobby project or a weekend diversion, but the goal is to create something that is useful or entertaining – and which at least runs. Each time I do this, my initial experience is to feel even more overwhelmed: everything seems more complicated than I thought it was when I knew nothing. Popular forums are full of contradictory advice, and suggestions that don’t work. Documentation is out of date, or never seems to quite refer to the version of the software that I am using.

But perseverance brings a degree of understanding. I learn which sources I can trust, and I gain confidence in new concepts. The advice on those forums starts to look like a live record of other people finding their way, making mistakes and asking questions. And I don’t feel so overwhelmed any more.

I am also reminded that it’s okay to feel overwhelmed from time to time, especially when you’re a technologist. Our field is broad and deep, and gets broader and deeper every day. Interfaces which look simple on the outside are complex on the inside, and every new development means more work and more concepts.

Feeling overwhelmed is a natural reaction, a recognition of a need for learning – and a prompt to go build something.