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As designers, we’re trained and tasked with reducing friction. Friction in function, friction in access, friction in everything. It’s instinctive and purposeful.
So when Justin Jackson noted this article in his newsletter today, about the end of social media, it got me thinking. I’ve been feeling quite off with social this year myself. I took a break, and even now back in it, it doesn’t bring me much joy. LinkedIn especially feels uncomfortable to browse.
The article is quite apt but there’s another point to make.
It’s a sad reality that the technology and tools we make (software, templates, frameworks, and so on) help create this situation in a kind of loop.
Every time we make something easier, we also flatten it. The more we lower the barrier to entry, the more we lower the quality. It’s not malicious, it’s just what happens when friction disappears.
Every time we make something easier, we also flatten it.
Design templates, website builders, social media schedulers. All of it smooths the process but also strips away the effort that once filtered things. Eventually, everything starts to look, sound, and feel the same.
And then, the whole thing collapses under its own sameness. People stop caring because there’s nothing to care about. When anyone can publish instantly, at volume, no one feels compelled to try.
The result is noise, and we tune out.
I don’t know what the answer is. We can’t stop technology from making things easier. That’s the point of it. But as we automate more, my guess is these cycles will only get faster.
It’s going to be the same with AI. Maybe worse. The tools will get astonishingly good, but the output will have a baseline of sameness. Everything will start to feel to strangely empty, if it hasn’t already.
I notice this on Netflix. I spent a decent amount of my life living through the pre Netflix age, where there was less to watch but it was good and worth it.
With AI, or even just with any technology, the effort that once gave things character, the human struggle to create, gets eroded away.
We’ll get more content than ever, but less meaning. We’ll have to create our own, rather than rely on mass media.
Photo by Peter Conrad on Unsplash
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