Disruptions: With New Comforts, Growing Complacent

[Commentary] Google and Facebook, young and successful companies that they are, risk being left behind as technology shifts from PCs and Web browsers to mobile devices. I have a theory on why they both have been slow to capitalize on the shift to mobile. It’s that employment at these companies is like going to work on an all-inclusive cruise ship. The analogy is apt in terms of the luxury — and the isolation.

The employee’s perks could be stultifying. Get hired by one of these businesses, and there is no reason to leave the office. There are on-campus gyms. Day care. Massages. Dry cleaning. Car rentals. Sadly, this isn’t how the rest of the world works. Most people actually have to leave their offices to get coffee. While wandering out into the real world, we unfortunates tend to do a lot with our mobile phones. We look for new restaurants, check in with location-based apps, share short pithy updates about things we’ve seen in this outside world, and take pictures of food and sunsets. I’m betting that the Googlers and Facebookers don’t see as much outside, since all these perks are meant to keep people working as long as possible.