Monday, January 03, 2005
(10:26 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
My Post
Computers grossly overuse the word "my." Microsoft started it with "My Computer" and "My Documents," soon followed by "My Music," "My Pictures," "My Downloads," etc., etc. Now every big-time corporate site that offers a personalized version of its site uses the word "my," even in the url -- for instance, my.yahoo.com. Just now, I was downloading RealPlayer, and it had a link for "My Account." So I wondered, "Why not 'your account'?" That is, why not at least take the slightly less annoying step of personifying the computer as one's personal servant, a butler who says, "Your news, milord; your documents, milady." Why do we have to live in this constant state of the "terrible twos" where everything is "my"? Why does the computer have to talk like our two-year-old self: "My documents! My mp3s! My porn folder! My my my!" At least in the case of computer-as-butler, one has some kind of reality existing over against oneself, even if it is a servile reality -- that would at least be something to work with. Instead, we get a virtual world that is coextensive with "my" property.In the final reckoning, that's why I reformatted my hard drive and installed Linux on this computer: even if "/home/akotsko/docs" sounds a lot more impersonal and even inhuman than "My Documents," I much prefer a computer that acts like a machine over a computer that is constantly trying to get me to throw a temper tantrum, then go suck on a corner of my blankie and sulk for a while.
