Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium I Black

Why you should watch more sunsets than Netflix.

This morning, at our design team meeting, our team sat around the table discussion dark patterns — the morally questionable techniques tech companies use to keep you enticed. A few hours earlier I had been reading about the imminent tipping point in User Experience design.

A backlash was due, they said.

Users would rebel.

Susan & Guthrie Weinschenk describe is as

“The race to the bottom of the stem cell”.

Attention is the currency of the day. Businesses compete for their tiny slice of our time.

We’re hooked, but our minds can’t handle the endless buzz. Constant requests pull us in a hundred directions at once.

Companies, and their apps, are getting increasingly sophisticated. Multi-varient testing allows them to tweak, adjust, and refine their systems until they have the masses — you & I — completely hooked.

How many little red dots will it take to push us past the point of no return? How many more vibrations do we need to break our concentration completely?

Even the news has caught on. The media released a stream of articles on the damaging effects of social media this summer. It’s addictive, causes jealousy and depression, and worst of all, it catches us in the delusion that it will help.

As a designer, do we have a moral obligation to stop this? Should we adhere to an ethical code? Why isn’t software design regulated? These are the questions of the day in our field.

I don’t have the global answer to these problem. Not yet.

Even just being a part of this industry, as I turn on my laptop to work, It sometimes feels like I’m Harry Potter opening up the Marauders Map, whispering:

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good”.

(http://hasuhime.deviantart.com/art/Marauder-s-Map-Brush-Set-295793660)

I might not have produced any industry worthy solutions, but I am discovering a remedy for myself. It came in the form of a golden nugget of advice passed down from my sister.

“Watch more sunsets than Netflix.”

She always was the smart one.

Unfortunately for her, she can do both at the same time. Her 6th floor flat has vistas West over the BC mountains. As she lounges on her sofa, remote in hand, the sky turns golden in the distance while another documentary glitters in the foreground. Technology still has her in its grasp*.

Lucky for me, I can’t see any of that. From my sofa, I can see a gate.

Lucky for me, my mum is a constant reminder to look at the world through a different lens.

Lucky for me, I live in an incredibly beautiful place.

So, once in a-while, I close down my Facebook feed, put down my phone, and pick up my SLR. I clip on my 50mm lens, and step outside into the world just to see what I can find. 5 minutes out the door and i’ve forgotten about my messages, and I’m immersed in exploring and capturing the unknown.

It feels great.

I did it last week.

I did it tonight.

I’m going to do it again tomorrow, and again on Wednesday.

It’s the perfect antidote to technology.

A release from it’s subtle grip.

Plus…it gives me a ton of great content for instagram

😉

*Actually, my sister does a fantastic job of escaping into nature, particularly for a someone dealing with the immense responsibility of being a first time mum.

Thanks for making it this far!

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Distractions from Dark Patterns. was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Distractions from Dark Patterns.

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