Is the Future of Technology Button-less?

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Future of Technology

Tap, touch, pinch, squeeze, spin, wave, or even jump, but do not push the red button.  Is this how future instruction manuals will read?  We have seen plenty of Sci-Fi movies displaying computer user interfaces that rely completely on touch, motion sensing, voice, and even mind input, and all of these concepts have been implemented, some more than others.

Nevertheless, I am not typing this article on my iPad screen, not that I have an iPad, but even if I owned one, my fingers would still prefer a keyboard. Moreover, my hands still prefer a mouse button, and the buttons on my remote control that I can feel, even with the lights off while watching a movie.

Still, the appeal of the interfaces found in movies like Iron Man and Avatar, where the user effortlessly tosses away virtual objects and slides open new ones, and the computer screens are all transparent is appealing to an extent.  After all, when we used paper, pencils, notebooks, and staplers, our hands were moving all over the place. But those were all real, tangible objects. Will the idea of swinging your empty hands, pretending to hold a baseball bat, ever measure up to the feedback sensation of feeling the bat’s force swing through the air and make contact with a ball?

While motion-sensing and gesture-based interfaces have come a long way, they have yet to reach the point where they could realistically replace keyboards and mice. To even begin typing on a virtual keyboard every day, without tactile feedback, millions of business workers would need to re-learn typing.  That could take generations.

There are other, more practical reasons why the touch screen will not replace the mouse.  Imagine starting work at 8AM, starting your computer, and then touching the screen to login.  Every time you want to do something else on the computer, you must touch the screen again.  Want to open your email?  Lift your hand and touch. Want to copy a spreadsheet? Lift your hand and touch. You will find yourself lifting your arm to touch the screen all day. Instead of wrist injuries, people would complain of work-related arm and elbow injuries. Touch screens are just not practical for extended use at a desk, not when moving a mouse is nearly effortless.

The touch screen is not the only button-less technology that must overcome practicality hurdles.  Motion-sensing technology, such as Microsoft Kinect, aims to be more than just a gaming gimmick. The E3 demo of Kinect showed a man controlling his entire entertainment center with his voice and hands. While it is certainly impressive and will undoubtedly find its way into many living rooms, day-to-day use for all entertainment is probably not coming soon.  Why?  The remote control is cheap and easy. Furthermore, it gives the person holding it all of the power (especially men), and there is something satisfying about pushing those buttons.  Then again, maybe waving their hands around in the air will be just as satisfying to some.

Voice activation is another technology that has yet to beat the button, and it has been around for quite a long time. Many of us dream of days when we could control our entire houses with our voices, the way Star Trek captains talked to their ship’s computers.  But reality is not quite so intuitive.  Proof of that is the thousands of people who frustratingly scream at their GPS systems for not understanding their instructions or the awful voice response systems of call centers.  Do you talk to those systems or just give up and press the buttons?

Furthermore, someone who spends hours on his computer (mostly for work) does not want to have to talk to simply open a new browser tab.  The mouse click is so simple and so rewarding.  Imagine a library with 100 students studying in a room, each of them with their own voice-activated tablet.  Studying would be a noisy affair.

Am I hopelessly pessimistic about a possible button-less future?  Certainly not. My point is that, for new technology to be useful, it has to be better, easier, and more productive than the technology it replaces. Perhaps I am no different than die-hard horse riders who, long ago, scoffed at the early adopters of the automobile, but eventually cars became faster, more comfortable, climate-controlled means of transportation. Button-less interfaces must also become faster, more comfortable, and more efficient, and they are not there yet.

Tags: button-less technology, future of technology