'Consumer' is a stupid, belittling word

There are a lot of people in the technology industry who talk a lot of nonsense, whether it's peddling products that are never going to work, or trying to convince your customers that a clearly failing business is "doing fine".

But one of the most pernicious words in technology (or in products in general) is one many of us hear every day: 'consumer'.

You might think that it's a harmless word, and in some senses it is, and you may think this is a small problem, and it is that too. There are bigger problems in the world, but that's no reason not to think about this one.

The word consumer encourages a certain kind of thinking. Its implications are of a group of people who don't do anything but mindlessly consume things. It brings to mind the 'nematodes' from the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants, a race of mindless creatures who go around brainlessly consuming everything in their paths.

There are other ways to describe those people (and we all, at some point, fall into that category). 'User', for instance, describes someone who actually uses the technology they have bought. 'Buyer' describes someone who pays for the product or service. And 'customer' describes both, for some products and services.

Admittedly, 'consumer' describes all of those things and more, but its unfortunate connotations diminish its usefulness.

If companies and corporations think of us as consumers it diminishes our worth, as customers, to them. Contrast with ‘business' users who, the implication goes, will be of value to a company. Consumers, on the other hand, are nothing but a drag, to be tolerated and no more.