Cyber - Getting Techy With It

(image by Tony Werman)

CYBER-

Combining form.

[Shortened from CYBERNETIC, CYBERSPACE, etc. Cyber from Greek kubernetes steersman, from kubernan to steer.]

Forming words relating to (the culture of) computers, information technology, 

the Internet, and virtual reality, or denoting futuristic concepts.

There was a time when sticking cyber onto something made it sound really edgy and cool. It was that heady period between the mid-90s and the early 00s; we were all getting our first email accounts, and how we marvelled at its convenience, only requiring a quick bus ride into town to the cybercafe run by that beardy-student-type guy that projected his BO like a badge of honour. Lurid tales of cybernauts, cybersex and cybersquatting emerged, and for a brief time it seemed as if anyone who could navigate cyberspace and think of a cool business name like Cyberweartronics Internationicom was destined to become a dot com billionaire. Now, though, cyber as a prefix sounds dated and passé. We've even stopped wondering if we're in The Matrix because, frankly, we just don't care either way. We've succumbed to cyberfatigue, a neologism I've just coined, one I would normally be excited about, but it's still all a bit ... m'eh.

Do please leave your most techcentric (or cyberphobic) comments in the box below.