Designing for human agency through intentional friction

An intro to design friction — and to me!

I’m in bed, on my phone, my wrist is cramping up. The clock turns 22:13. OK, I will scroll until 22:30. Whoops, it’s 22:31. I’ll do until 23:00. Damn, missed it. Okay, I have until midnight. Oh no, it’s 00:20 and tomorrow is ruined. And then, at 5AM, the cat. I wake up groggy from the anxious sleep induced by the screens.

I know it’s not only the fault of social media, but I do blame it for a lot. How did we end up here? Why is frictionless the standard? All designers in the digital product scene know the goal has been, for a long time, to make interactions as comfortable, seamless, frictionless as possible. It’s easy and fun to scroll to the next video. It’s easy and fun to order everything with a single click. It’s easy and fun to post any thought we have online.

That’s what frictionless design is about: it’s removing barriers, keeping users engaged, maximising engagement, driving sales. Frictionless design feels shiny and smooth, but when you touch it, it is cold; you hold it in your hand, you can’t move your eyes away, and it heats up like a laptop running Sims 4 in bed, and it’s already becoming uncomfortable to hold, but you keep holding it, because flicking up with your thumb to play another video feels like such an accomplishment, just the right…