The accidental tyranny of user interfaces

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the author's view that an obsession with "easy, intuitive, and efficient" user interfaces is creating a "soft tyranny" that restricts user freedom and normalizes limitations on how people can interact with technology. The author provides examples from various apps and software to illustrate how user interfaces are becoming increasingly restrictive, hiding functionality and preventing users from engaging with content in flexible ways.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Thesis and Perspective

1. What is the author's main thesis or argument? The author's main thesis is that an obsession with "easy, intuitive, and efficient" user interfaces is creating a "soft tyranny" that restricts user freedom and normalizes limitations on how people can interact with technology.

2. What is the author's perspective on their ability to design user interfaces? The author clarifies that they are not a trained user interface designer, but rather a user with opinions. The author acknowledges that designing good user interfaces is challenging and that very few people have the talent and attitude to do it well.

3. What is the author's approach in discussing examples? The author states that all the examples discussed are systems where the current user interface is worse than a previous version, not cases where the author believes they could do better.

[02] Concerns about User Interface Trends

1. What concerns does the author raise about the direction of user interfaces? The author is concerned that user interfaces are trending towards a "Magnetic North" where all possible actions are defined and given a button, rather than allowing users flexibility and freedom to interact with the underlying content and functionality.

2. What specific examples does the author provide to illustrate these concerns? The author provides examples from YouTube, WhatsApp, and office building elevator systems to show how user interfaces are becoming increasingly restrictive, hiding functionality and preventing users from engaging with content in flexible ways.

3. How does the author connect these user interface trends to broader societal issues? The author suggests that these user interface trends are akin to a "soft tyranny" that conditions users to accept restrictions in return for superficial ease of use, and argues that this is the "route of totalitarianism."

[03] Recommendations and Conclusions

1. What recommendations does the author provide for improving user interfaces? The author recommends that software should treat users like adults, providing transparency about what is happening in the background and allowing more flexibility and freedom to interact with content and functionality.

2. What is the author's overall conclusion about the importance of these user interface issues? The author concludes that these user interface trends are significant because they do the "job of the dictator and the censor," training users to accept restrictions and limiting the consciousness-expanding capabilities of technology.