Confessions of a Tech-Reporter

Matt Honan is a Senior Reporter for the tech-blog Gizmodo.

I stumbled upon this piece while perusing the blogosphere’s coverage of CES (Consumer Electronics Show).

This candid and introspective look at why people like Matt (and myself) follow such a spectacle struck a chord.

There is a hole in my heart dug deep by advertising and envy and a desire to see a thing that is new and different and beautiful. A place within me that is empty, and that I want to fill it up. The hole makes me think electronics can help. And of course, they can.

They make the world easier and more enjoyable. They boost productivity and provide entertainment and information and sometimes even status. At least for a while. At least until they are obsolete. At least until they are garbage.

Electronics are our talismans that ward off the spiritual vacuum of modernity; gilt in Gorilla Glass and cadmium. And in them we find entertainment in lieu of happiness, and exchanges in lieu of actual connections.

And, oh, I am guilty. I am guilty. I am guilty.

I feel that way too. More than most, probably. I’m forever wanting something new. Something I’ve never seen before, that no one else has. Something that will be both an extension and expression of my person. Something that will take me away from the world I actually live in and let me immerse myself in another. Something that will let me see more details, take better pictures, do more at once, work smarter, run faster, live longer.

Maybe I’ve even made you feel that way too.

A sad cavalcade of fat men with roll-aboard luggage rushes past, looking at their phones as they walk, blocking my way.

The TV Art Frame from Art Motion Technology will cover your flat panel television like a window frame. “The window illusion is an actual piece of canvas artwork from the palate of Artist David Christopher Miller” and is available in sizes from 37-inches to 65-inches in various colors and styles. I do not care, and I do not care, and I do not care.