A touch-screen fridge? A seven-blade razor? Why is everything suddenly so complicated? | Adrian Chiles

Modern technology is supposed to make our world better. But my flat’s ‘lighting system’ is broken, and I long for a single, simple light switchI started shaving, tackling the wispiest of bumfluff, 40 years ago. I did so in an attempt to stimulate growth in order to make me look older, so I would have a better chance of getting served in pubs. Not one of these three things came to pass. The razor I used had two blades. I remember thinking how that felt excessive for my needs; one would have done. This was 1983 – 11 years after, according to its website, Gillette came up with the “Trac II®, the first twin-blade shaving system”. And it was a good 15 years before Gillette was “breaking the performance barrier with the MACH3®, the first three-blade technology, for an even smoother, closer shave”.The blade arms race was on, providing a rich source of comic material for, among others, Billy Connolly, I recall, and Mitchell and Webb. But on the razor makers ploughed regardless, breaking new gr