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Do any of you share your tech with your partner?
Do you know a couples, possibly in your family, who are tech sharers?
I’m talking about the couples who share a single computer, a single cell phone, a single tablet, or a single e-reader.
From my own completely idiosyncratic and unscientific observations, I would say that this phenomenon is more prevalent than we might expect. I think that there exists a silent minority of tech sharing households.
These are couples who share tech for reasons either financial or philosophical. Perhaps one member of the couple is an un-enthusiastic tech adopter, and therefore for a shared computer or phone is fine for infrequent usage.
Some of these couples are always together - perhaps retired - and feel no need to double up the devices that must be paid and cared for.
For some, sharing a single e-mail address is as natural as sharing a home phone number. And the smart phone, when used, is not a tool to shop or read news or watch video - but to make calls with and send the occasional text.
The though of sharing one computer or one smart phone with my wife strikes me with fear and terror.
My iPhone is my constant companion, the tool I use to manage my personal life. Sharing a laptop seems just as crazy as sharing a phone. My work life flows through and completely depends on my MacBook Air. Without constant access to a laptop - and a fast web connection - I’d be as productive as my dog.
Perhaps it is true that a constant dependence on tech blinds us to other possibilities. There seems to be a critical mass of households who happily share their computers and phones as easily as my home shares a newspaper subscription. These couples don’t announce their allegiance to tech sharing as they don’t think what they are doing is all that unusual.
Where are the sociologists who are supposed to be studying this tech-sharing tribe?
Why do we only hear about the rate of individual technology adoption, and not the persistence of technology sharing?
Can you ever imagine a situation where you give up your personal devices - and instead decide to share your tech with a partner?
What devices in your home have a single owner, and what devices are shared?
Are higher ed people less likely than civilians to share their technology?
