It Wasn’t Made for You

Why is your tech life filled with things you don’t want? Why do you feel like you’re not smart enough or too old to understand your devices?

Why do ads take up more space on web sites you visit than the actual content? Why do ads show up in desktop and mobile applications, even ones that you are already paying for? Why do you get ads in Apple’s system settings and wallet apps?

Why are notifications so pervasive across all of your devices? Why are they on by default? Why does it require skill and time for you to find and enable only the ones you actually need?

Why are you bombarded with a constant stream of aggressive solicitation, through email, web sites, apps, phone calls, text, video? Why does it seems like every device you own is pitching you something every day?

Why is your TV watching you? Why is your washer and dryer connected to the Internet? Why does everything you own seem to have a mind of its own?

Why does every business you contact and every service you use want you to tell them “how they did” mere hours after the fact? Yet why does it take “two weeks or longer” to unsubscribe from most things?

The answer to all of the above is the same: It wasn’t made for you.

No matter what most companies say, products today are just not made for you. If they were, the questions above wouldn’t need asking and they wouldn’t even exist. It wasn’t made for you, it’s that simple.

My mom asks me all the time why is her iPad not working in a way that she can understand. Sometimes she tells me that it’s her fault, that she’s not good with these things And I tell her: it’s not you, it just wasn’t built and designed and thought out for you.

I work in tech, and I struggle with it too, so it’s not you. It’s not your age. It’s not your education. It’s not that your instincts are wrong. No, it’s that these products are built without thought and regard to what your actual needs are and how best to fulfill those needs. Yes it used to be that way, no it’s not anymore.

Products are no longer built to meet you and your needs where you are. Instead, products today ask you to bend yourself to the reality and assumptions of their maker. You have to meet them where they are and on their terms. It’s not about you anymore, it’s about them.

Why is your software constantly changing and forcing you to learn new things and adapt to it?

All pretenses have dropped. It just wasn’t made for you.