This is just a quick overview of some terminology that you’ll need to understand.

Technology …#

Since this website is all about technology, a definition of the word is in order. From a quick web search, technology is defined as:

Machinery and equipment that has been developed using scientific knowledge or processes.

That’s a fine definition, but also quite broad. Let’s refine it. To be more specific and to get straight to the point, here at SUBDUE YOUR TECH, technology means:

Computer-controlled equipment.

A few more terms now need defining.

Computers …#

At the heart of all modern technology is the computer.

What is a computer? A quick web search yields results centring on some useful keywords:

An electronic device that can store large amounts of information and be given sets of instructions to organize and change it very quickly.

An electronic device that processes data according to instructions that are provided by computer programs.

A programmable device that stores, retrieves, and processes data.

Etc.

Unless you enjoy being difficult, it can be considered technically accurate to view as a computer anything that runs on electricity and stores and processes data according to some preconfigured instructions.

So, let us ask again, what is a computer? More specifically, what can be classified as a computer? Your phone? Your TV? Your car? Your headphones? Your washing machine? Your child’s toy computer? Your Wi-Fi router? Your nearest cell tower? Your house arrest tag smart watch? Your wiretap smart speaker?

The answer to all the above is “yes”. All this to say:

Computers are everywhere and in everything.

Who do these computers work for? Certainly not you.

Computer Networks …#

Our world as we know it is cannot exist without computer networks. If you do not know what a network is, a quick web search is again helpful:

A large system consisting of many similar parts that are connected together to allow movement or communication between or along the parts.

A number of computers that are connected together so that they can share information

An interconnected or interrelated chain, group, or system.

Etc.

So, a computer network is just a system of computers that are all connected together. Given the proliferation on computers and their interconnectedness through the internet, the following becomes very clear:

Computers are constantly communicating with each other.

Consider the computers in your house. Who do they (yes, they, not you) communicate with and why? What are they saying? Who are the people watching all this chatter? What do they want?

You probably cannot answer these questions very well. You may even proudly state that you couldn’t care less. Regrettable.

Hardware / Software …#

Two final important terms must be defined: hardware and software.

A simple definition of hardware:

The physical components in any piece of technology.

A simple definition of software:

Written instructions which control the functioning of the hardware.

In case something is still unclear, let’s use some examples. In your phone, examples of hardware include:

  • The camera
  • The screen
  • The microphone

These physical components, along with many others, are assembled together to produce your phone. But hardware alone is not enough to make the phone function. Without software, your phone is dead. Consider the following questions:

  • How does a phone know to switch the screen on when you receive a call?
  • How does it know to take a photo when you press the circle on your screen?
  • How is that circle even generated on your screen in the first place?

This is the domain of software. Simply, instructions, written in advance by humans (for now), that tell the hardware what to do. For example:

  • “When the phone turns on, display all the apps on screen”
  • “When the user selects the Camera app, switch on the camera and display it on screen”

Etc.

You may have realised that the instructions contained in software are not declared to you while you use your phone. The phone “just works”. In other words, you have no idea what your tech is actually doing. More to the point, you have no idea what your phone has been told to do.

Consider the possibility that you phone has been told to do the following:

“When the user presses ‘Power Off’, just pretend to be switched off. Instead, keep the microphone on and keep the phone connected to the internet”.

Is that example complete fabricated? Maybe. But consider this: you have no means of proving whether or not this is the case. And, by the way, it is completely possible (and, from a technical standpoint, laughably trivial) for your phone to be secretly operating this way.

Well done on completing Tech 101. Proceed for additional complaints.