The tech world has come to worship this disruption for obvious reason: it's the quickest way to get rich fast. It's the way to hurt your competition. It''s the fastest path to empire. And most of all, it's the best way to get attention from venture capitalists for your series A.
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The problems of disruption are also obvious. Because if disruption is the goal, no one really thinks about the validity of the new thing they create, they just care that it breaks the old thing. It has all the constructive nuance of a wrecking ball.
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And that's the problem. Because i don't care about the "success" of disruption. The real thing that matters, when we look at what tech companies have been doing the last ten years, is the effect on our lives and the world.
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Let's start simple. I fucking love my iphone. We will look back at these kinds of smart phones as probably the most important, life-changing invention of the era. I can reach the whole world in infinite ways with the touch of a button.
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The problem is that it is also designed to reach me no matter how much I would prefer it not to... See when I work, I need to, you know, focus.
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As a result, I literally have to put my phone in a different room. For there is literally nothing more difficult than trying to write a scene or an argument and being on a train of thought something being like HEY ANSWER / NOTICE / THINK ABOUT THIS OTHER THING.
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But that's exactly what the phone, and everything within it, wants. Their success is directly measured by my level of engagement. Facebook, twitter, netflix, everything is literally about maximum usage.
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And so we have been sold is a "a life of constant disruption," because that's how we stay most engaged. We live in a notification culture. An auto-play culture. We are told it is best for us because of convenience. When really it is best for them.
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"But-but-but it gives you the option to switch them off!" And that's right, but the amount of fucking work i have to put in to do that is grotesque. And often labyrinthian. Navigating it is it's own disruption.
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Replying to @FilmCritHULK
I agree with your points, but reducing system volume to zero and turning vibration off is not labyrinthian. It does require self control to not keep checking the phone "in case I missed something."
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I know this. Again, I literally put the phone in the other room and don't check it. This is literally easier then switching all the desired settings every damn time.
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Replying to @FilmCritHULK
I tried that. Still ended up getting my phone "just in case"
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