Technology can allow people much freedom. But what is the true price of this freedom? Hard work, maybe?
Everything good in life requires hard work. Think!
Every investment in technology is an investment of time and money to save time and money.
Each IT investment involves three parties: The vendor, the IT staff and the business owner. The vendor gets the sale and the owner the ROI. The IT staff receives an income and acquires expertise that can be monetized in the next career move.
Normally everybody benefits, but in IT, as in other very complex industries like healthcare, a shroud of mystery* hides the details, so the benefits are not always distributed as initially assumed.
Complexity is sometimes used to protect a competitive advantage, to lure, or to create dependency. E.g.: Software vendors can sell features that do not exist (the assumption being that by the time you try to implement the said features - if competitive pressure still requires it – the features can be built and pushed via updates.) Beta testing is often pushed on clients. An old codebase can be carved into new products and sold under new names to exploit fads or force clients into wholesale upgrades. Giants skew standards and pay lip service to the need for interoperability. Features are dropped to force you to upgrade. As its software tentacles grow, Big Tech embed itself deeper in your IT infrastructure. Shenanigans like this do not exist when products can be returned and vendors dropped or sued.
There are no ambulance chasers in the IT industry where the IT guy is often judge and party. (There are many ways to skin a cat in IT: a high maintenance system can guarantee your job security, while a better system can put you out of a job.)
Obfuscation through complexity, whether natural, accidental or intentional, pushes the true cost of technology under the rug and down the road.
When you are on your dime and time, you simply hate wasting days solving issues that were “planted” or result from carelessness.
When technology ties your hands and wastes your time, you lick your wounds and swear this will not happen again. You learn the difference between the tech that uses you and the tech that you can use.
* Language, costs, paperwork, side and long-term effects ...