Don't Tell Me What I Want To See
I've recently been tasked with reading through Sara Wachter-Boettcher's book "Technically Wrong" and I've just finished chapter 5. Chapter 5 focused on companies desire to create an engaging, 'fun' product, often with little regard for the reality of user experiences.
Wachter-Boettcher discusses the growing trend of flashback features and services, like FB's "On this Day" and TimeHop. Features, which I personally as a user have always despised. I laughed my way through "Technically Wrong's" fifth chapter. I could relate to almost every listed example. How many times have I opened an app only to be reminded of one the worst things in my life? Far, far too many. Or how many times to I have to be reminded how bad my spelling and sentence construction were at 13-15?
It's an obnoxious and often tone-deaf feature that social media companies are all cramming into their services. I dislike it immensely and as noted in the book; these companies make these required features of their services. A blast from the past is inescapable according to likes of Musk, The Zuck, and every other corporate bigwig trying to dredge up our memories so they can sell more ad space in between them.
This chapter highlights a growing issue among the tech industry. Businesses are no longer designing products to fill a need. Theyre designing products and hoping to create a need for them along the way. These ideas are usually half-baked at best, and while not intentionally malicious, they often have consequences not immediately apparent to the designers.















