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This week I’ve been deep in thought. About beds and movie tickets.

A fire sale by cash-burning mattress company Casper and the possible resurgence of cash-burning movie subscription service MoviePass got me thinking about changing consumer habits over the past decade, led by the bazooka of technology and investors’ money.

Technologists these days are focused on a potential future. blockchains and metaversions or spend millions For a copy of the US Constitution because … democracy? But before we move on to the next chapter in tech, let’s consider both the good and the ugly in the current situation.

I believe in good times stupidity in Silicon Valley and damages resulting from some use of technology far outweigh the benefits of innovation and Optimists who dream wildly big. I’m glad that entrepreneurs are working to make cars safer and better for the planet, and I can’t imagine life without a supercomputer in my pocket.

But right now I feel pessimistic.

Part of tech’s recent legacy is a generation of young companies that contribute (arguably) smart ideas but still become financial zombies. Many are rooted in unhealthy consumer expectations and lost bucket of money.

I wonder if anyone in the tech era of the 2010s had any doubts about these downsides or learned any lessons from them. I hope so, but don’t be afraid.

Casper buy popular mattress online It is packed in boxes and delivered to homes. The company this week agreed to sell the business for fraction from its old value.

Conditions might have been different for Casper without the coronavirus pandemic and the freeze in transporting goods around the world. But the sale was also a sign that investors didn’t believe in Casper’s future.

company – like Uber, We are working, door panel and many other start-ups that are emblematic of the 2010s are losing a ton of money after years of work. Casper also disclosure The company said it’s at risk of running out of cash within a year, although it said loans, planned cost-cutting and other steps, among other steps, would help keep the sale afloat.

Also in the past few days, one of the weirdest crazes of recent years seemed poised for a comeback. MoviePass was exciting for people who initially paid $10 a month for the chance to watch a movie in theaters every day. It sounded like an impossible deal – and it was.

Movie Card lost an incredible amount of moneyand its parent company filed for bankruptcy about two years ago. Now, one of the founders of MoviePass has a plan to resurrect him after getting it from bankruptcy. We’ll see what happens.

Besides the red ink, what ties Casper and MoviePass together with Warby Parker is, Open door and many other start-ups of the last decade – re-imagine the old ways sell a product or service. Even if we never bought what these companies were selling, they changed boring industries and opened people’s eyes to new possibilities.

As they learn what went wrong, it’s worth celebrating the good they did. Many of these young companies have grown provide unsustainably cheap services or intimidate the internet with advertisements. This couldn’t go on.

They’ve also created an expectation that delivering a mattress or dinner to our door is an effortless, free ballet. Instead, most of these services clogged storage areas with unwanted beds, workers were treated miserably and contributed to the increase in traffic in cities. And most of these companies have not developed financially either. Was all this spoiling worth it?

Many technical mistakes made in the last decade feel like they are being repeated on steroids. Electric vehicle companies that barely make cars, more valuable not including many one of the world’s automakers. i see a lot overexcitement around NFTs and blockchain and new Services Crop that is likely to be unsustainable.

I want to be optimistic about how technology is making our lives better. I’m not right now.

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Before you go …

• What Activision CEO knows: The Wall Street Journal published an article. investigation It found that the video game company’s senior executive failed to tell the board of Activision employees about accusations of rape and other abuses against men at the company. Activision has faced hundreds of allegations of sexual harassment, assault and ill-treatment of female employees. My colleague Kellen Browning reported this. On Tuesday, some employees called for the CEO to be fired..

• Is this really necessary? Moscow’s metro system is installing technology that will scan people’s faces instead of using tickets or debit cards to enter. Celestine Bohlen writes for The New York Times privacy advocates fear that this is an unnecessary change as an excuse to further spy on Russian citizens.

• Have a Plan B for the gadget you want: My colleague Brian X. Chen reminds me that consumer electronics products like video game consoles and low-cost laptops will likely be hard to find for the holidays. Here are tips for shoppers.

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you never really he looked on the legs of owls? They’re great and a little silly.

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