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Technology Woes – Easier Doesn’t Always Mean Better

reiew with nash - Technology Woes - Easier Doesn’t Always Mean Better

-of technology and a lazy generation. 

Ever realized how difficult it has become to convince anyone to try out a more challenging, yet more effective habit? Well, thanks to the explosion of mobile applications and other new technologies that promise to make our lives easier. And they are indeed an incredible development. I mean, we use apps when we need driving directions, quick news updates, and weather reports. We use them to send us reminders about our schedules. For the next minute while you read this, draw your attention to how easier doesn’t always mean better.

All of those applications have been designed for ease of use. That very quality determines their popularity. So I did some research on mobile applications development. I found that there is a fourfold process for this development, one step of which is ‘action’- that is, the moment when the user engages with the app. To get the user to take action, the design must make it as painless as possible. The idea is that doing must be more comfortable than thinking.

Ever noticed how frequently you can now sign up for things with your Facebook credentials, eliminating the need to spend some two minutes typing in your information. What developers are trying to achieve is generally to increase a product’s ease of use. The more energy – either physical or mental – required to perform any desired action, the less likely it (the action) is to occur.

I’m not an eternal optimist about technology. It changes what we do, and those changes can affect everything from the way we think and do things. Neither am I a doomsayer about technology. We should be willing to look at those advancements direct in the eye and consider how to adapt and respond. Sometimes those advancements will lead us toward productive new dimensions – and sometimes they will pose obstacles.

I stalled on finishing this article for a long time, hoping that eventually, a bright idea of some kind would present itself to me, and I could then share it with you, dear reader. After all, writing poses some of the same challenges: it benefits from struggle and time. No matter how many flashes of inspiration and brilliant ideas come along, that won’t get words on the page.

It requires putting in the work, sit your butt down, and return again and again to the draft until you get it right. You don’t get this by some automation; you need to type in words while you think, practically. Of course, nothing beats it when you eventually get it right. This is where I am coming from when I say easier doesn’t always mean better.

The pleasure we get when we finally master a piece of new knowledge and skills remains in our corner as a motivation for anyone and everyone to do the hard in what they do. But it won’t be easy. Yes, easier doesn’t always mean better. As our technologies continue to smooth the rough pathways of our everyday lives, it might just get harder. 

Side note: I once asked a friend, out of curiosity, why Google does not put adverts on the Google home page. I mean that page would give them millions because it’s the first place that anyone wanting to search the web would land on. But take another look at the Google home page and notice how much white space is there. Ever wonder why? Well, concluded – that design leaves you with nothing to think about; Just type in your search words (whatever you want), and you’re done. That’s the idea. 

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