When Buying Appliances, Go with Low-Tech

You would think that with all the technology that surrounds us, we'd be in a much better place. But, uh, well... Not really.

In spite of all this high-end technology, mishaps of all kinds and of every magnitude plague us. Bank accounts show missing funds, electronic records go on vacation, and "hack-proof" websites become Grand Central Station.

So, whither the superior quality that technology promises?

Consumerism

Some years ago a friend of mine proudly showed me her then-most-recent acquisition: an electric crock pot. It was brand new, of a good name brand, high capacity - and because it was electronically controlled - it sported elapsed time cooking, scheduled cooking start time, high and low cook settings, and "keep warm" after cook.

It had all the bells and whistles you couldn't possibly need. After all, it was digitally controlled.

Good stuff, eh? Or not...

Breakdown

Some months later my friend called me to say she had to return her electronic crock pot.

"Why?" I wondered. Had something gone wrong with her indefatigable crock pot? Had this treasured icon of culinary high technology suffered the mishap of being dropped? Or (more likely) was its owner suddenly no longer enamored with its digital splendor?

No. Actually it simply went kaput.

On the morning of a big potluck party to which she planned to bring a sumptuous pot of stew, the red LED display of her digital masterpiece suddenly went blank. The electric element beneath put forth heat no more.

Grounds for Failure

Upon calling the product's warranty department, she was given instructions as to how to return the crock pot and have it replaced with another of "equal or lesser value".

Upon asking further as to why the crock pot failed, the answer posed was that its electronic brain was very sensitive. By being packed with so many rich features, its geek-designers had most likely forgotten to incorporate into its brains the proper shielding from electrical power spikes, brown-outs, fizzles and the other fickle behaviors peculiar to our modern power grid.

Upon even further inquiry as to a more reliable and less costly replacement, the customer rep suggested a simpler crock with a simple choice of OFF, LOW, and HIGH cook settings. These settings would be actuated by a manually driven selector switch. Pure analog.

My friend vied for this analog version of her former crock pot. And a few weeks later she got this - exactly what she had asked for - and she's been happy ever since.

Go With Analog

In the longer run, low-tech beats high-tech hands down. In the world of digital versus analog, the latter beats the former for longevity. Sure, the bells and whistles look attractive, but the stuff sitting in the crock pot is just plain soup. Honor it with a matching and simpler apparatus.

If I were given the choice between a digital keypad and a manually turned electrical switch, I'll take a campfire and a hunk of meat speared onto the end of a stick.