Image © Jose & MidJourney
I was listening to Bari Weiss and her Honesty podcast, and in particular to the essay that Ruby LaRocca wrote to win the high school essay contest The Free Press organized. She was reading her own essay, so we get a multilevel understanding of the author by her voice and reading intonation. Funny enough, or perhaps a sign of what she was describing as “challenges older generations have misunderstood, missed, or created”, Ruby is a homeschooled senior, meaning she didn’t actually go to high school.
As Ruby listed her guide for teenage happiness, and listed her five precepts (1. Read old books, 2. Memorize poetry; Learn ancient languages, 3. Learn from the monks, and slow your pace — of reading, of writing, of thinking, 4. Learn how to conduct yourself in public, and 5. Dramatically reduce use of your phone), I kept asking myself how much of a wildcard, or an extreme and fringe case she might be. I do have a daughter slightly older than Ruby, and let’s just say she is not aligned with this guide, but she also not on the other extreme, she is what some might say more ‘normal’ but then again, where is the midpoint of this pendulum.
But then my head went elsewhere, to design, which is what I live by and love, so I am always going there no matter where I start. I have been thinking for a while on how designers might have engaged in human centric principles and practices that might in fact be hurting humans, there is something about chasing simplicity and user friendliness that makes humans become less active, less articulate, less resourceful, all these smart shortcuts are perhaps making humans less physically and mentally able to overcome challenges, less willing to explore and experiment. As we standardize user experience and user interfaces, we are basically making people dumber and lazier.
And now we have this new wave of AI driven gadgets, the ultimate versions of a life concierge that everyone can access by the push of a button. We are all learning to prompt interfaces that will do the dirty work behind, connecting more and more touch points and interfacing with all the stations between us and the destination we asked for, all of it under the concept of simplicity, all access touch-less and friction-less. I think about Ruby again, her choices seem to fall under the “make it hard, make it slow, make it alone”, and I wonder what is the right design direction for such a lifestyle, for such a mindset.