technofetishism

Why this word is great

TECHNOFETISHISM — [Noun] An irrational devotion to or obsessive admiration for modern technology, often divorced from its practical utility. The term stitches together techno- (from Greek tekhnē, "art, craft") and fetishism (from Portuguese feitiço, "obsessive attachment"), forming a hybrid that worships silicon and steel. Unlike "technophilia" (which suggests a benign enthusiasm for gadgets) or "technocracy" (which elevates engineers to power without fetishizing their tools), technofetishism mistakes the gleam of the new for the weight of the meaningful. It is the cold glow of a smartphone screen at 3 a.m., the hollow hum of a server farm in the desert, the way a child strokes a touchscreen but cannot name a single tree—proof that devotion, misplaced, is just another kind of blindness.