An entire industry popped up over the last decade focused on optimizing user experience. Everything from buy now button colors to deeply creepy data analytics gets painstaking attention. User experience design is what we call this subset of the tech world. And, when used for good, it has the power to bring new tools to marginalized communities and make the world a kinder place to navigate for many.
Unfortunately, user experience design is primarily used to manipulate our worst human impulses rather than to help. You're more likely to find careful attention paid to the experience design of a shopping site or a game than to a government agency or a doctor's office.
The savviest companies know that the less friction the experience is on their app or site, the more you will engage with it. The savviest companies know that the easier it is to buy, give away your data, or get what you want, the more you will return.
Unfortunately, user experience design is primarily used to manipulate our worst human impulses rather than to help. You're more likely to find careful attention paid to the experience design of a shopping site or a game than to a government agency or a doctor's office.
The savviest companies know that the less friction the experience is on their app or site, the more you will engage with it. The savviest companies know that the easier it is to buy, give away your data, or get what you want, the more you will return.
Today's digital realities are this: The apps and websites that humans most need to have good user experiences don't. The ones that are the least good for us typically do.
If you need social services from your federal, state, county, or city government, the user experience is likely to be terrible.
If you want to bet on sports or watch pornography, the user experience is likely to be easy, fast, and addictive.
If you need medical help or to figure something out with your health insurance, the user experience is likely to be terrible.
If you want to buy more things than you can afford or waste away a day watching random videos, the user experience is likely to be so seamless that you don't even realize it's been designed to be this way.
We've been taught that our digital lives should be customized to us. We've been taught that apps and websites should be easy, fast, and largely free or very low cost.
User experience (UX) teams have done much to shape the modern world, sometimes for good. But not usually.
Maybe UX teams should be required to train, test, and take an oath, just like medical professionals. After all, one could argue that their impact on human life over the past 30ish years has been just as big as a doctor or a nurse. Instead, we largely leave this awesome responsibility in the hands of those who have not been required or even encouraged to think about the impact of their work on anything except the next quarter's sales goals.
Primum nil nocere...First do no harm.
What if what would actually serve our humanity better is more friction in our digital spaces?
Maybe my Google searches being less reliable these days is actually good for me because it's forcing me to engage with libraries, human experts, and my own brain power more frequently.
Maybe doing my online shopping in places that are not Amazon, where shipping costs and times are slow, and personalization is less than optimal, would actually save me time and money because I would buy less and therefore not need to work as much.
Maybe the increased friction reconnects us in some small way with what it is to be human.
Lourenia (Renia) Carsillo
Chief Strategist & Founder
Realign Consult
Chief Strategist & Founder
Realign Consult