Web, Drugs & Rock ’n’ Roll.
Status Quo of the Web. And how to shake it.
Bananas and Blow
We watch Netflix, not TV. We listen to Spotify, not CDs. We send Snaps, not letters. We talk to Siri, not to each other. The web changed the world. And digital products our minds. Here’s one minute of it:
Sex & Candy
To unlock all those beautiful things we just need to slide, touch or stare at the screen. And that’s what we do. We’re in love with our smartphones. So much that we don’t need anti baby pills anymore. Or those blue pills we got from a friend that got it from a friend. In some studies we can even grasp the fear that the smartphone will trump Americas top two addictions: alcohol and sex. Fuck.
“It’s not necessarily a good sign that smart phones rival alcohol and sex as a certain new American addiction”.
(sachsmedia)
Insane in the brain
We’re on drugs and out of mind. Silicon Valley hacked that three-pound pink jell-o thing in our head. And placed the remote control directly in our hands. While the “I” thinks it’s in control, we’re zombies staring at a light bulb. Every ten minutes. And for over four hours per day. Half of this time goes to the top five media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube.
“Technology steers what 2 billion people are thinking and believing every day.”
( wired)
Big fat money
Einstein would be surprised, but time is actually money. Google, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for example make money with space for ads*. The more time we spend there, the more ads we can see. And we only see ads that we like. Ads that fit our data. A very clever algorithms makes sense of our likes, posts and shares. Says the Facebook marketing department. As we know there’s always a little gap between marketing and reality. But there’s no need to worry: some pretty good engineers are fixing it.
*and many more things. Find it in this great book. Half swearing, half storytelling: Ruined by Design by Mike Monteiro, page 115 ff.
Happy Pills
The web is wonderful. We can google everything. We don’t need to study chemistry to crack the formula for meth. And we don’t need to study behavioral psychology to hack peoples habits. Smart people have put this complicated stuff in simple words and easy to follow step by step guides. Putting the theory into practice might not be that simple. While both business models might be ethically questionable one of them is kind of illegal. And the market leaders have a special way to deal with startup hipster unicorns that like to snatch away market shares.
„The interfaces to this world are awash with encouragements to share, sign-up, create“
(ends)
Used to get High
Let’s face it: We’re easily seduced. Since the beginning we fall for the apple. And we love doing the wrong things. The catholic church clustered them to seven sins: pride, sloth, gluttony, anger, envy, greed and lust. The pope might add the smartphone soon.
Chris Nodder wrote a great book about those sins. It’s a simple step by step that shows designers how to create interfaces that appeal to the seven sins. The title might be a bit misleading: Evil by Design.*
*Evil by Design: Interaction Design to Lead Us into Temptation, Wiley 2013
Wasteland
We’ve been sucked into a world that sucks. Everybody can publish everything. It’s foolproof. Creating videos, pictures and stories has never been that simple. We’re all creative and we could all be influencers that will make millions. We just need to post more, more, more. It’s true: we’re all creative. We’re all creators. We’ve created wasteland. With ten filter options on Instagram. And with zero, none, nada quality filter.
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snap, TikTok and whatever may come have given us superpowers. We can create anything. That’s the status quo of the web. Let’s shake it.
Champaign Supernova
Unfortunately there are already some party poopers on the way. They want us to spend less time with our loved devices. “Remarkably” ineffective is Apple’s screen time feature that shows us how much time we spend with our devices. It’s ineffective because it talks to the rider, our little rational part of the brain. While the elephant, our not-at-all rational system, is having big fun on social media. But Apple isn’t the only one that tries to reverse the fall of man. With his upcoming book Indistractable, Nir Eyal is going to unhook Hooked. We’ll see if this is just a how to manual or an actual habit changer.
I don’t do drugs, I just sweat a lot.
I don’t do drugs anymore. I deleted Facebook, Instagram and YouTube from my phone. Four years ago. No FOMO since then. The only one who is missing out is my data-addicted phone. Since I quitted the big social media platforms, it’s on cold turkey. Nevermind. To make it even worse — I’ve backed the Light Phone II. An actual product that changes habits. Seems that shaking the web is pretty simple: switch off your smartphone. Sometimes.
Let the band play
The headlines sound kind of freaky and familiar? Cool. And they all sound good too. They’re songs I love and that support the message. Put on your headphones, turn up the volume and listen to Web, Drugs & Rock ’n’ Roll Playlist on Spotify. One of the digital disruptors that I love. Yeah, I still do drugs. Now: Let the band play.
