The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Tech Adoption

Life in the age of ubiquitous AI is nothing like the Orwellian futurescape it might’ve conjured just a few short years ago. Or maybe that’s what they want you to think.

Jokes aside, I’ve shed my late-adopter reticence and accepted its arrival. I can’t explain the reticence - I’m the last of the Gen Xers, a Xennial if we’re splitting hairs - so I’ve used computers most of my life. Feeble brain? Analog soul? It’s hardly worth parsing. 

And in learning to adapt, AI has been nothing short of a revelation for me. All it took was some light cognitive reframing.

For many reasons, role clarity in the workplace is important. It creates healthy boundaries, helps manage expectations for all parties, promotes accountability and ownership, and contributes to workers’ sense of stability. Role clarity, job descriptions, all that HR documentation - while wonkish at times - helps preserve people’s dignity and authority over a particular domain. It keeps them from feeling encroached upon or like their job is being threatened. It keeps people from feeling replaceable - and therein lies the insecurity behind some people’s unease with AI or automation in general.

The point is, it’s about creating boundaries with your technology, including AI. And since I learned to do that, I learned how to wield its power without sacrificing my own. 

So, know your role, know the role AI can play, and where the two should intersect. Know how it can benefit you. After all, it’s a tool, and not a sentient being…yet.