A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
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A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
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Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#2For other readers: this seems to be an internal google presentation made public to tell engineers to respect users' attention.
I guess as a user of the website it didn't respect my attention enough to make me want to click through the whole thing. I dropped out after twenty or so clicks, having read less and less stuff after a few slides.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#3I was surprised to see this is an internal Google presentation.
FYI the way to advance it on mobile is to click the slides. It took me a few seconds to figure that out.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#4This is great and all of it true, but the needs of these companies are counter to the goals presented here.
Ad funded products need to steal time and attention to be profitable. Apple might be in a position to do something, but Facebook, Twitter, and Google depend on ad revenue. Even subscription companies like Netflix are hyper focused on engagement.
I was daydreaming yesterday about a national mandate to shut down social media on the first of every month. (Phone calls and texting are okay, but absolutely nothing else.) Something like that will never happen, but I think the world would collectively realize what this stuff is doing to us if we had to step away.
We're all addicted and distracted.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#5If memory serves, this presentation was created at Google years ago by Tristan Harris, who also had a huge part to play in The Social Dilemma.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#6Funny enough that the presentation loops (at least on my phone) and just shows the first slide after the last one without any indication of it.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#7This is great and all of it true, but the needs of these companies are counter to the goals presented here. Ad funded products need to steal time and attention to be profitable. Apple might be in a position to do something, but Facebook, Twitter, and Google depend on ad revenue. Even subscription companies like Netflix are hyper focused on engagement. I was daydreaming yesterday about a national mandate to shut down…
It would never happen because social media would convince users to vote against their own interests. Like Facebook did with the Apple debacle.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#8For other readers: this seems to be an internal google presentation made public to tell engineers to respect users' attention. I guess as a user of the website it didn't respect my attention enough to make me want to click through the whole thing. I dropped out after twenty or so clicks, having read less and less stuff after a few slides.
I’m afraid the same happened for me. I just couldn’t get to the end. It was, uh, distracting me.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#9Funny enough that the presentation loops (at least on my phone) and just shows the first slide after the last one without any indication of it.
I kind of like it. No complex UI showing forward/back, how many slides deep you are, etc. Just the slides themselves.
It reminds me of "minimal" UIs in video games that remove health bars, stats, etc. so that the content is front and center. Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, etc.
Almost cinematic.
Re: A call to minimize distraction and respect users’ attention (2013)
#10For other readers: this seems to be an internal google presentation made public to tell engineers to respect users' attention. I guess as a user of the website it didn't respect my attention enough to make me want to click through the whole thing. I dropped out after twenty or so clicks, having read less and less stuff after a few slides.
Agreed. Ironically, the slideshow format is extremely 'low density', and frustrates my ability to quickly read what they have to say. I didn't get all the way through it either.