Technology was supposed to make our lives less stressful and easier. It was supposed to make things better in almost every way. And yet, for every problem technology solves, it seems to raise three more. This is why the French philosopher Jacques Ellul called it the 'betrayal of technology'.
In 1954, Ellul argued that while technology was supposed to liberate us, it has enslaved us not through force, but through necessity. Because while it might solve this or that problem, it also creates three dependencies. For example, the car might have relieved us of the tyranny of distance, but then chained us to traffic, insurance, and oil prices. The smartphone connected us to everyone, then demanded we be always available and always online.
Ellul called this a 'technological society', a world where efficiency is viewed as the highest virtue, and anything that can be optimised should be optimised. And so human rhythms are replaced by mechanical ones. Ellul called this a 'betrayal' because it does so without our consent. Once a technology exists, society reorganises around it.
Try banking without the internet. Try getting a job without email. Technology was supposed to offer us freedom, but it gave us a cage. One of invisible obligations and manufactured needs. As Ellul put it, 'modern technology has become a defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option, but a necessity.' We didn't adopt technology. Technology adopted us, and now it's raising us in its own image.