Putting Friction Back In Frictionless Tech
Is a "seamless user experience" always a good thing?
TikTok’s algorithm knows what gets your attention better than any app on the market. Instagram is right there so you’re always just a click away from obsessively comparing your life to that of your friends. YouTube is an endless firehose of algorithmically-curated information, from pop culture analysis to astrophysics to how to bake the best apple pie.
All of these services were designed by engineers with one thing in mind: how can we make the best, most engaging, most seamless user experience? Attention is money. Keep user’s attention, and you’ve built a money-printing machine.
About six months ago, I deleted Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter from my phone simply because I needed the space. A month or two went by, and I went back on all three platforms, but I didn’t use the apps. I accessed my accounts via the Safari web browser on my iPhone. I know, go ahead, now is your chance to call me a psychopath. Its clunky, core features don’t perform smoothly, and the user experience is generally very poor.
Google, Meta, and Twitter never optimized their services for the Safari mobile browser because they want you to download their app. But to this day, I access those platforms via Safari and my usage time is a small fraction of what it once was.
I unknowingly introduced friction to frictionless technology. It’s been great.
For over a decade, the tech industry has been obsessed with “frictionless” design. Friction refers to the level of effort and steps required by a user to reach a certain goal. Lets say the goal is to buy a product online, the lifeblood of all e-commerce companies. A customer’s journey technically begins even before the web page loads, but for argument’s sake, let’s assume they found the landing page.
The number of steps required to buy a product is inversely related to the probability an item gets purchased. The goal is only one or two clicks—the reason Amazon created the “buy now with 1-click” button.
The more steps you require a customer to complete, the more chances they have to be diverted elsewhere, away from buying your product. And they may never be back.
It’s easy to see how the tech industry came to equate frictionless design with revenue potential. Now mesh the concept of frictionless design with an optimization for human psychology, and you get social media platform design.
The Business of Keeping You Hooked
The feed is endless. There’s always another episode loading. Maybe your next swipe will be the love of your life. Maybe your next post will get more likes than your last. You have to find out.
These are features ubiquitous across all consumer tech. They are also intentional design decisions. Early Google employee and design ethicist Tristan Harris noted that society doesn’t lack willpower, but rather “there are a thousand people on the other side of the screen whose job it is to break down the self regulation you have.” To remove friction from the user experience.
In his book Irresistible, Adam Alter identified the components of behavioral addiction:
“Behavioral addiction consists of six ingredients: compelling goals that are just beyond reach; irresistible and unpredictable positive feedback; a sense of incremental progress and improvement; tasks that become slowly more difficult over time; unresolved tensions that demand resolution; and strong social connections.”
Compulsively checking Instagram for new likes and finishing that next mission in a video game are both actions that release a hit of dopamine. They also map over to one or more of the components of behavioral addiction.
Engineers and designers know the power of human psychology and design their platforms and products accordingly. They make it nearly effortless to engage in addictive behavior which on its face seems benign, because no one seriously equates checking your Instagram like count to shooting heroin—yet the same human psychology underpins both scenarios. From a business perspective, frictionless tech is simply maximizing the time a user spends on the platform to collect troves of data to power ad revenue, which has resulted in several of the most valuable companies in history. But from a user perspective, it has cost nothing less than society’s health, happiness, and wellbeing.
Ways to Integrate Friction in Your Tech
Create space between you and your device (go for a phone-free walk, or charge your phone across the room at night).
Delete social media apps and use the browser instead (you’ll get used to it I promise).
“Detox” your phone of all non-essential apps for one month. What did you miss? What did you absolutely need? Re-calibrate accordingly. You’ll be surprised.
Final Thoughts
Steve Jobs didn’t allow his kids to use Apple products because he knew the addictive power of what he was building and that his kids would be no exception. If you’ve read my prior newsletters, you’re probably thinking “didn’t he just say he was an Apple fan?” Good catch.
There is a saying in the tech world that if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product. Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and their competitors are all free. Your attention is data, data is money, and the less that you question your usage time, the more money the company makes. I’m not arguing that tech hasn’t improved our lives in countless ways, or that you should stop using your favorite tech because you’re suddenly an addict. But know how it works, and then use it on your own terms.
As Adam Alter pointed out:
“Tech isn’t morally good or bad until it’s wielded by the corporations that fashion it for mass consumption.”
Saving the ethics discussion for another day, the reality is that the platforms we use daily were literally designed to addict users, and becoming aware of 1) how that happens and 2) how to reclaim your tech-free space is something that can benefit us all. Maybe we need a little friction.
Have thoughts? Reply to this email or leave a comment!
Cheers,
Ryan
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Reading & Watching Recommendations
Adam Alter - Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
Cal Newport - Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Tristan Harris - TED Talk - How a Handful of Tech Companies Control Billions of Minds Every Day
Netflix Documentary - The Social Dilemma