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Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

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Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#11

Post by georgeecollins »

serjester wrote: post #8
war1025 wrote: post #4

The article leads with a quote by Don Norman. I read his book "The design of everyday things" after hearing a lot of people speak highly of it. I found it quite underwhelming. Anyone have insight of what people think is so noteworthy about that book?

For me it seemed like it fleshed out a lot of ideas about what makes good UX. I didn't think it was earth shattering but I think back to it often when I interact with the various items in my life. It's nice for someone to explicitly explain something you intuitively grasp but can't clearly explain.

Here's a little trivia: It was originally titled the Psychology of Everyday things. It was so popular with designers, particularly software designers, that they re-titled it.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#12

Post by Animats »

pwinnski wrote: post #2

There are many things in life that cannot be simpler without losing some level of choice that we value, I'll grant that. Nobody who has ever dealt with the United States Government, or any US State government, can tell me with a straight face that the principle is absolute. Or, put another way, I'll gladly give up all the choices that lead to misery every time I deal with the IRS or DMV in exchange for things to be a…

"Hello. Welcome to the Automated DMV, Mr. Smith. Your car registration needs to be renewed. Since you're here, and we recognize you, and your car is in the parking lot, and we recognize that, too, renewal will be $122. You have three parking tickets outstanding, so we will add $150 to that. You have one red light violation, and we're sending video of that to your phone if you want to contest it. But since the face and license plate match, we assume you won't, so we're adding $1025. Your total today is $1297."

"Right now, you have $475 in your bank account. We can set up an easy payment plan at $150 per month plus 3% interest per month if you like, with automatic deduction. If that's OK with you, just say "Yes"."

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#13

Post by munificent »

war1025 wrote: post #4

The article leads with a quote by Don Norman. I read his book "The design of everyday things" after hearing a lot of people speak highly of it. I found it quite underwhelming. Anyone have insight of what people think is so noteworthy about that book?

You're probably falling prey to the "Seinfeld is Unfunny" effect: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunn...

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#14

Post by sdht0 »

Animats wrote: post #12
pwinnski wrote: post #2

There are many things in life that cannot be simpler without losing some level of choice that we value, I'll grant that. Nobody who has ever dealt with the United States Government, or any US State government, can tell me with a straight face that the principle is absolute. Or, put another way, I'll gladly give up all the choices that lead to misery every time I deal with the IRS or DMV in exchange for things to be a…

"Hello. Welcome to the Automated DMV, Mr. Smith. Your car registration needs to be renewed. Since you're here, and we recognize you, and your car is in the parking lot, and we recognize that, too, renewal will be $122. You have three parking tickets outstanding, so we will add $150 to that. You have one red light violation, and we're sending video of that to your phone if you want to contest it. But since the face an…

This would be pretty cool actually, if we make some key changes: "we will add" -> "do you want to add them now?" and "you have $$$ in your bank account" -> "how do you want to pay", for example.

Basically, automatically giving options to the users based on access to data they should already have. Detecting the car is not even needed, just scan the driver license at a terminal and get going.

DMV does not need to have direct access to your bank account, but can simply hand off the total to your banking app (say), which in turn can then offer the easy payment plan. Some credit cards already offer this option today.

In general, life can be made quite simple with technology without also having to give up choices or privacy. The hard part is convincing the tech companies/govt IT bureaucracy to go this way :)

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#15

Post by carabiner »

I see this all around me. People are fixated on careers, hobbies (FOMO), spread thin by family obligations and errands. The truth is, happiness does not derive from these things. This "busyness" is an invention. Life is simple, and happiness actually derives from having cats.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#16

Post by porknubbins »

From my perspective a huge amount of features/modes/choices in things are rarely used things that a minority might want but most people never use, so things could be much simpler. I’ve never used an Android device because I would probably go down an unproductive rabbit hole of customizing and debugging etc. iOS cuts down on my freedom but frees up mental energy for more meaningful uses.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#17

Post by catallergies »

carabiner wrote: post #15

I see this all around me. People are fixated on careers, hobbies (FOMO), spread thin by family obligations and errands. The truth is, happiness does not derive from these things. This "busyness" is an invention. Life is simple, and happiness actually derives from having cats.

I'm allergic to cats.

Pets also add complexity to life, e.g. when you want to go away for any length of time.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#18

Post by earthboundkid »

catallergies wrote: post #17
carabiner wrote: post #15

I see this all around me. People are fixated on careers, hobbies (FOMO), spread thin by family obligations and errands. The truth is, happiness does not derive from these things. This "busyness" is an invention. Life is simple, and happiness actually derives from having cats.

I'm allergic to cats. Pets also add complexity to life, e.g. when you want to go away for any length of time.

You can leave cats alone for a weekend without an supervision, just a bowl of food and some water.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#19

Post by andy99 »

Animats wrote: post #12
pwinnski wrote: post #2

There are many things in life that cannot be simpler without losing some level of choice that we value, I'll grant that. Nobody who has ever dealt with the United States Government, or any US State government, can tell me with a straight face that the principle is absolute. Or, put another way, I'll gladly give up all the choices that lead to misery every time I deal with the IRS or DMV in exchange for things to be a…

"Hello. Welcome to the Automated DMV, Mr. Smith. Your car registration needs to be renewed. Since you're here, and we recognize you, and your car is in the parking lot, and we recognize that, too, renewal will be $122. You have three parking tickets outstanding, so we will add $150 to that. You have one red light violation, and we're sending video of that to your phone if you want to contest it. But since the face an…

I think a realistic example of what you mean would be looking at getting support from Uber. If you want to something from their checklist, it's simple, but if you have something that doesn't fit nicely into their FAQ, it is maddeningly impossible to have a real interaction to get your issue resolved. That is what a simple, automated solution looks like.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#20

Post by williadc »

earthboundkid wrote: post #18
catallergies wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm allergic to cats. Pets also add complexity to life, e.g. when you want to go away for any length of time.

You can leave cats alone for a weekend without an supervision, just a bowl of food and some water.

Your cat isn't diabetic, I guess.
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