Why I Hate The Term “User Experience”

There are only two industries where customers are typically referred to as users: the IT industry, and the drugs industry. Funny thing is, the IT industry is the only one where the customers are referred to as ‘users’ by the business people. I’ve never heard of a dealer having users, only customers. References to consumers of drugs as ‘users’ comes from outside the industry, and it’s used as a pejorative.

So why do we have users? Why do we have user experience? Is that all our customers do? Use our products and services? What if we stop to ask why they are ‘using’ it?

When you stop thinking of the people at the other end of the screen as users and start thinking of them in terms of what they do, how they consume your product (drivers, patrons, authors, buyers), and why they’re using it — what they want to achieve — you take a huge step towards developing empathy towards them and creating a better experience. (That’s what personas are for, right?) Your customers aren’t mindless drones, hooked on your stuff, needing another hit just to get through the day. They’ve got thoughts, feelings, motives, goals, and other shit they should be doing. Give them the attention, name, empathy and experience they deserve.