Thought #440: “Can I Use This Computer?” — A Symbol of German Digitalization in Late 2026

An open blue hanging file box full of hanging folders with tabs, on a table in a training room — Left: the open hanging file box. Right: closed – “Can I use this computer?”

The same blue hanging file box with its lid closed – from the outside it looks like a PC tower — Left: the open hanging file box. Right: closed – “Can I use this computer?”

Yes, these photos were taken over the past few months at one of Germany’s biggest education providers – and for me it’s a symbolic image, because it describes so perfectly the state our nation, our country is in. So this is where digitalisation stands right now, still, at the end of 2026 – and it’s going to stay that way in 2027, 2028 and beyond. Which means the gap between Chinese and American companies on the one side and German ones on the other just keeps widening.

The funny thing about the pictures is that I sent them to lots of people I know, and most of them asked me: “Hey dude, what’s that, what’s it supposed to be?” It’s a hanging file box – I think that’s what it’s called. You can lock it too, by the way – there are probably privacy-compliant lids for it. And that’s what I worked with as a freelance coach.

And here’s the interesting part: I also sent it to a Gen Z person who worked with me on site at that education provider, and he wrote back: “Hey, can I use this computer?” In other words, from the outside – in the photo with the lid closed – this blue plastic box really does look like a PC, like a tower.

So basically it’s unbelievable, actually unimaginable, that something like this is still possible: that when it comes to digitalisation – and we’re talking about the very first wave of digitalisation, which was only ever about getting documents into digital form, nothing more – we haven’t even managed that yet. We fritter away, squander, burn resources on these gigantic “data carriers” made of plastic, metal, wood, as if there were no tomorrow. We produce files that are pointless in the end, that we can shred – just like the Stasi shredded its files back then.

Maybe that comparison is far-fetched – I still want to make it. I’m allowed to here, this is my safe space, I can let off a rant now and then. And in future I’ll also remind myself again that the Bahá’í Faith says: “A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men” – and not negative, critical things. So I promise to do better. From now on I’ll try to focus on positive things again – there are positive developments too. But this just had to be done: posting and sharing a symbolic image of where digitalisation stands in 2026 at a flagship premium company.