I’m expected to enjoy technology because I work in technology. And don’t get me wrong, I appreciate technology when it tracks my checked bags across the world with minimal losses or when it allows me to book a reservation without calling a person to inquire about dates. But technology for technology’s sake? The constant speed running of ideas and implications and integrations? I can’t be arsed.

I work with a bunch of nerds (said lovingly). These men will spend all day squashing bugs in code only to go home and work to minimize the electrical noise on wires to optimize the frequencies of their emission. These men love AI, love to learn about the newest tech, and love to come up with cool new ways to nerd out. I never feel more isolated from my team than when they get genuinely excited about something like VPCs. One of the men in my workplace chain of command was speaking excitedly about some vibe coding he did over the weekend and as others around the table leaned in for the next round of AI circle jerking, the man held up his hand, stopped the conversation, pointed at me, and said, “You don’t like tech.” I asked why he would say that. He replied, “when I brought up AI, everyone got excited and started chatting, and your eyes glazed over.”

I made an attempt to defend my professional legitimacy before I explained that no, I did not care about technology in the slightest outside of work. This man and I proceeded to have a very long conversation about tech hobbyists. And I felt my soul become weary when I thought about how I was expected to be a tech fiend even outside of work so I could be taken seriously inside of work.

I regaled the table in the fact that if my TV doesn’t work, I turn it off and read a book. They. Were. Horrified. A person in MY job? With MY title? Not wanting to immediately dive into problem solving my own tech? Scandalous!

I think I’m reaching tech burnout.
Technology has exploded exponentially in a weird application of Moore’s Law and frankly, I can’t keep up. Every day is a million more new things I need to know, forwards into the “new frontier” and backwards into the cobwebs of legacy that still needs to work. I was holding onto the wave of new technology just barely until AI started making my life actively worse at work. Now instead of coasting along the tech swell, I feel bashed against the rocks along the shore of old and out of touch fogies as people shame me for not wanting to double down on AI. The use cases of AI do not align with what I find enjoyable in my life, yet I am shunned for not wanting to use it?

To add insult to injury, AI was trained on my words written on this blog, on my book, on my thoughts. I’m expected to be excited to use something that stole from me? I was accused of sounding like AI on a website the other day and I almost lost it. I don’t sound like AI; AI sounds like ME! It sounds like me and every other person on the internet with half a brain.

The number one thing about new technology is that it needs a purpose for existing. There must be use cases for the technology or no one will carry it through acquisitions and sustainment. So when it comes to AI in my personal life, I have no use cases that I can think of for wanting to break out the old Claude code. AI doesn’t help me paint, or sing, or dance, or make my child laugh. And I don’t want it to…ever.

I’m lost in the field of technology after DECADES of being excited by tech and I want to pressure-wash sidewalks with my headphones in.