IMHO, The biggest problem with the oft-repeated meme "just a tool" is the word "just". It dismisses out of hand the powerful ways in which tools (e.g. media) nu

IMHO, The biggest problem with the oft-repeated meme "just a tool" is the word "just". It dismisses out of hand the powerful ways in which tools (e.g. media) nudge us in certain directions and shape the way we work. Any time you hear someone say "just a tool", you are talking to someone who considers themselves cognitively separate from the tools they use, whereas in reality there is something much more fluid happening. Let us not forget that tools themselves are designed, and some designs can be downright pathological. A kettle is a tool for making tea, but (in deference to Donald Norman) there is a reason we don't make kettles with the spout on the same side as the handle. Just because someone designed a tool to solve a particular problem does not mean that it's the best way to solve that problem. We can and should be critical of our tools without emotional attachment to them.