This essay / post is about a theory that has been gathering dust in my drawer for a while. A recent post by Philip Wilkinson in Crowdstorm’s blog “The Feature War in Social Shopping” made some of my crusty memory cells spring to action…yada, yada, yada - I am writing this post. Its still work in progress but I prefer releasing these raw thoughts and creating a discussion rather then to continue to dwell in this with myself. Once completed I believe it may offer a different way to analyze current trends, services, consumer psychology in the digital consumer industry.

What is Digital Zen?

Digital Device:A device that can read, write, store and transmit information

Zen: enlightenment that can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation.

Thus, Digital Zen can be defined as a feeling of calm and satisfaction, attained by using digital devices to help live life. No fuss, complications, frustrations, where is the dam manual?, what format does this support? Need to restart, Its only for Windows, Its not available in this network etc. etc. Rather use the most basic intuition to operate, upgrade and connect.

The Digital Life Scale

The digital life scale is a theoretical map that describes different stages a person my be in vis-a-vis his interaction with digital products and services. Not just one product or service but rather his over all experience, expectation level, satisfaction level and most important digital life journey.

STAGE #1 - Digital Denial
Won’t use digital devices, don’t want to use them, feels the world is too dependent on them and wants to live like ‘it used to be’.

STAGE #2 - Digital Puberty
Start using digital devices and services such as cell phone and email and feel contempt. Some people at this stage are not hungry for more and others, out of positive experiences look to grow their usage.

STAGE #3 Digital Life

A regular consumer / user of digital products and services. From music storage devices, emails, IM’s and PDA’s – the digital life feels connected …yet at times not effective and time consuming.

STAGE# 4 Digital Zen

A state of mind that is NOT possible to achieve today (please write to me if you think otherwise, have experienced it yourself or know someone who does). This is only possible when all devices communicate and allow seamless transfer of information. This is the place where technology should be….a place where it serves you instead of you servicing it. As can be seen by the graph below, digital zen is not a quantum leap from digital life but the delta to get there is the x factor many companies and industries pursue endlessly.

Another benefit of being in the ‘Zen Zone’ is the fact you reached a plateau. There is progress but its not characterized by rapid changes for good or for bad. Its where the digital environment blends flawlessly into a users life.

A change in the technological environment (or just growing old and becoming out of it) may throw you back into a digital imbalance stage (the next downturn level) which, in turn, forces you to climb back again or just give up.

STAGE# 5 Digital Overload

When a good thing turns bad. Too many connections trying to provide services that are not useful and are too complicated and operate. When you spend too much time thinking what to do instead of just doing it. People in this stage often revert back to Digital Puberty because that seems to be the place where they can remain in control OR progress back to ‘regular’ digital life leaving the pursue of Zen to others.

Personally I am currently living a Digital Life with Zen far out of site. Windows, Apple, GSM, CDMA, MP3, WMV are all but in the way. And that is just on the OS/ network side..what about usability and reliability?, still a long way to go.