Is modern consumer technology less interesting

Recently I saw a post on Hacker News: I used to be excited about new tech, but I rarely am anymore. The author, Andreas, talks about how he’s just not excited about new technology the way he used to be when he was younger. He poses the question of whether getting older just makes it seem more boring. I’ve had similar thoughts about new technology, but I don’t think it’s a question of age specifically. A lot of modern tech just feels very mundane. But I recently got an old school calculator, an HP 16c Programmer’s Calculator, and it had that feeling of excitement about it to me - wow this is pretty cool, look it’s a calculator and it has all these functions! Why is a calculator exciting to me when a lot of other stuff isn’t? I think there are at least the following factors that affect it: Novelty Convenience and Usability Market appeal Modern consumer tech lacks novelty This is probably the biggest factor. Modern consumer technology seems to have converged to a point where it’s very…