What must I learn today Question Mark ( Zuckerberg )
It is said that we are what we eat, are we what we are fed?
I go through my newsfeed, through the clutter of incessant chatter, to follow what’s news. I am connected to people as an excuse to not connect with them. The posts filling their wall, hides their doors.
Stories I have now learnt, can be both fake and true, disappearing and lasting, some having fewer characters than others. I see article over article of personal views and personal news, each screaming in the void ‘MeMe!’.
I come across a picture and I pause for a second. I ask myself if I should like it. With the thumbs up and down on my screen, I wonder if we were blessed with opposable thumbs, to uphold judgements. While I wish to browse through life mindfully, technology is pushing me to constantly react. My opinion is always asked for, is measured and delivered to someone seeking instant gratification. And as I do the same, put my photoshopped curated life on to the world’s stage, who am I to complain that you don’t know me true?
I like the photo anyways.
I see content that leaves me just that. I see more of what I agree with, less of what would make me question exactly that. “The world’s my oyster” they say, I wonder if the filter bubble is my goldfish bowl. I’m disappointed that it is so predictable what clicks with me, that my complicated mind is tapped by neural nets and seemingly neutral nets.
I feel home sick for a screen which allowed for spaces between my different interactions. I yearn for serendipitous encounters, for designs that ask my permission to have access to my time. I believe that applications should be developed not for good user experience but to enhance the human experience.
If only I could be free from this web, I would swipe right to my destiny. To disconnect so as to show up.
While I know and understand this, I still find myself going back to these apps, in this endless circle of followers and following, tagged along in interactions I rather not be a part of. And while I want to a master of my choice, I am but a creature of habit.
I question the founding principles of some of these technologies, put my foot down and say that this data is mine. I get to choose who gets to know me, who has access to my private life.
Data mine is mine I say.
Precisely, they say.
Data yours is (a) data mine.
This is the second installment in my series titled ‘Designing for the human experience’. View Part 1 here:
