Technology embodiment : the contribution of Heidegger's phenomenology

The rapid evolution, expansion, and integration of technology into our everyday lives changes the way that we understand the relationship between technology and people. A dualistic relationship, with technology at one end and people at the other, no longer serves as a clear approach in understanding why and how we engage technology. As such, we must seek new forms of understanding as technology has become truly part and parcel of who we are, how we connect with our past, and how we shape our future. We use Heidegger's phenomenology for understanding the relationship between technology and people, investigating why and how people engage hedonic systems in the formation of embodied technology relationships. In this qualitative study we contribute to research on both hedonic systems and phenomenology, evidencing characteristics of how people constitute an embodied relationship with the technology that has become so pervasive in their lifeworld.