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Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

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Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#1
I grew up a millennial tech geek, spending my days lurking on Tom's Hardware, playing and modding video games, tinkering with code and watching Star Trek. Wherever I looked at the world's problems, more technology seemed to be the answer.

Nowadays I'm a software dev and tech entrepreneur. At best, technology bores me. At worst, it terrifies me. Today's startups are solving the most boring problems imaginable. Gadgets are a snoozfest. Programming languages and frameworks seem to be running in circles.

We seem to be experiencing diminishing returns on tech for the past few years. More tech is no longer necessarily better. Is this just a phase before the next big industrial revolution?

When did this start, and when is the drought going to be over?

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#3
Partly it's just growing up and having a tech job. You've got less time to play with tech, and learning itself becomes less interesting because you already know most of it.

When it comes to business, a lot of verticals have been monopolized and tech has shifted from making tools that users pay for to weapons of mass distraction where the objective is "growth and engagement".

Re: Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?

#10

Oh, this is a question I actually have asked myself before! The definitive answer is July 10, 2008; App Store opens, and ushers in this new age of garbage software.

The app store wasn't immediately garbage, though. Apps on smart phones started off being inventive or at least interesting. It was when the gold rushers came in after seeing success that the system became increasingly filled with things designed not to help you the user, but to extract maximum profit from you as a customer.
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