The purpose of life is not in making it go faster. (Gandhi)

There’s something that bothers me about technology these days. And I’m hoping that that’s more than just a reflection of my age.

I think Gandhi’s on to something here. Have humans ever been so busy as they are right now? 

Does that describe you? Are you always in front of a screen – desktop, laptop, or mobile? Do you use multiple screens at the same time? Are you triple-booked for everything? Do you constantly multi-task?

Did you know that you also might not be doing your best work? There is a ton of research out there that says that humans really can’t multi-task. Note that that means not that we’re not good at it. We simply are incapable of it – and we fool ourselves whenever we think we are. 

There is also plenty of research that says that reflection is on the wane, but also that time for reflection makes for better decisions. And also for more creative decisions – the kind that might lead to out-of-the-box solutions and real innovation. 

Making life go faster is certainly all the rage these days – what with Agile, and fail fast, and lean UX, and “move fast and break things” … Now, that might all be good for startups.  But is it good for larger companies, like an Apple?  I actually understand that Apple does not use Agile.  Hmm …

Now, more importantly, do you contribute to all this with your work? Is your company’s goal to make addictive UX? Are you in the business of short-circuiting users’ thought processes and just getting them to click on the call to action? Is that badge really necessary or is it just a shameless ploy to get the user to open up your app? Is your work distracting? Need it be? Why?

Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?  

Gandhi’s idea of technology

Let me end with this quote of his:

I hate not the machines, but this growing passion for machines. I hate the passion for the machines which work upon diminishing manpower. Some talk about machines which could spare manpower when thousands of people are thrown jobless on the streets. Yes, I want the human toil and time to be spared not just for a sect of people but for humanity. I want the wealth to be accumulated not just in few hands, but for all the people in the world. Today machines favor putting a handful of people on top of thousands.