Glasshole

What Does Glasshole Mean?

A Glasshole is an individual who behaves inappropriately while using the Google Glass interface. This new and somewhat edgy term specifically refers to a range of behaviors that shed light on the constantly changing human interactions with technology.

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Techopedia Explains Glasshole

Traits of a Glasshole include:

  • Overusing the technology, or, more accurately, using Google Glass in ways that do not fit social community norms
  • Wearing Google Glass in inconspicuous ways
  • Accommodating requests about the interface from others
  • Abstaining from illicit or intrusive recording of an environment
  • Exclusively using the interface while avoiding other kinds of technologies

Another major component of the Glasshole term relates to the phenomenon of users that block human interaction in favor of interacting with devices. This is similar to the issue of “phone snubbing” or “phubbing,” which has been a major concern of smartphones and mobile devices. When using these devices, many tend to tune out different types of surrounding interactions in order to focus more extensively on their machines. There is a lot of blowback around this, as well as a concerted campaign to deal with phone snubbing – and, if Google Glass continues to take off, there will likely be campaigns geared toward dealing with Glassholes on person-to-person levels and professional environments. For example, patient advocates have expressed concerns about using Google Glass in a doctor’s office, which could distract doctor/patient relationships.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…