The image of an oral telling may be caught on paper, film or in digital format, but recordings are not the word shared live. The presence of teller and audience, and the immediacy of the moment are not fully captured by any form of technology. Unlike the insect frozen in amber, a told story is alive. It always changes from one telling to the next depending on the voice and mood of the storyteller, the place of its telling and the response of the audience. The story breathes with the teller’s breath.

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When people start debating on whether the effects of the Internet are good or bad, it is the content they wrestle over. What both enthusiasts and skeptics miss is the fact that as a window onto the world, and onto ourselves, the Internet shapes what we see and how we see it, and eventually, if we use it enough, changes who we are as individuals and as a society. It controls the scale and form of human association and delivers a new form of human being, whose qualities are suited to it. As Marshall McLuhan, author of ‘Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’ wrote, the content of the medium is just the juicy bit of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind.

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As it mindlessly implements its procedures, an algorithm is supposed to be devoid of bias. When an algorithm rejects a loan application or sets the price for an airline flight, it is deemed impersonal and unbending. Yet, an algorithm is not a scientific concept. It is a system, like a military chain of command. It takes knowhow, calculation and creativity to make a system work properly. And some systems, like some armies, are much more reliable than others. For, a system is a human artefact, not a mathematical truism.

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On the rare occasions that they see it fit to direct their attention toward older adults, most tech innovators instinctively reduce their target users down to their medical issues. Consumed with the obvious problems of old age—issues like hearing, mobility, medication management—they fail to consider the other things someone of any age would want. Concerns about self-image or style, crucial considerations for every other age group, are frequently seen as frivolous, and come only as an afterthought. Meanwhile, for many older adults, the higher-level desire to look and feel a certain way can overpower base-level physiological needs such as the ability to hear or see clearly. And so, for every older adult who has a hearing aid, an emergency-response necklace, or one of those cell phones with the huge rubber buttons, there are legions avoiding these potentially lifesaving devices.

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While society is chipping away at giving girls broader access to life’s possibilities, it isn’t presenting boys with a full continuum of how they can be in the world. To carve out a masculine identity requires whittling away everything that falls outside the norms of boyhood. At the earliest ages, it’s about external signifiers like favorite colors, TV shows, and clothes. But later, the paring knife cuts away intimate friendships, emotional range, and open communication

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