An Essentially Essential Product

Around 11,000 years ago, humanity was primarily living the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They hunted not because they wanted to but because they had to in order to survive. It was an essential activity. Times were simpler then and there were fewer products out there. The daily drivers were primitive weapons like spears and axes made of stone and wood. Back then you could say that the products that were used the most heavily were definitely indispensable.

But what about today? Are the products we use the most heavily still essential? Think of your smartphone, tablet, computer, car, or tv. Are they really essential? If you ask our ancestors 11,000 years ago they would categorize them as mind-blowing inventions but, nonetheless, still unessential.

The simpler side of me wants to consider these products as unessential but, of course, humanity’s definition of what’s essential has evolved along with the species. To get by in developed countries, one of the biggest products you need access to is the internet. It is not too far from the list of top essential products after food, water, and medical products (at least by our definition of essential today).

Do you want a job? 99% of jobs will require you to access the internet to apply through some job board site. If you have a job, chances are highly likely they are somehow linked to the internet somehow, directly or indirectly. So, the way our society is structured, the internet has become essential to us.

This is great because a lot of other products that we consider essential are laid upon the foundation of the internet. These products utilize the internet to make our lives easier by solving some of our problems. It is also scary that rely so heavily on the internet because it is a single point of failure. If the internet goes down or is otherwise negatively impacted our society will really struggle.

So, to sum it up, there are many products available to us today. They are heavily laid on the foundation of the internet and as such make the internet amongst the most useful and essential products we have.

Note about this article: This article was an assignment for a UX Design Bootcamp where each student had the opportunity to speak just about anything related to product design. I chose to talk about what products are essential today.