Introduction
Today I’ve been talking with a friend about Operating Systems interfaces, how people got used to them, and how social media keeps us hooked due to its design.
OS Interfaces
Windows Interfaces
It all started with a post I saw that probably Windows 11 will move to native apps instead of Progressive Web Apps like now. I really hate PWA; they feel clunky and not integrated properly as they just run in a browser. And that you will be able again to move the Windows taskbar to any of the sides and not just at the bottom. Probably they will use .NET for that, and I don’t have anything bad to say about that, way better than PWAs.
Then I told him that I really enjoyed Windows 8, the opposite of what the majority of people said. And we agreed that Windows 8 was ahead of its time. For me, Windows 8 was a really awesome OS, even if at the beginning it was hard to use if you came from previous versions. The Charm Bar was a huge change, and the Start Menu too.
It was very snappy and nice to the eye. You opened the news app, and you saw the whole app in full screen, and you had horizontal scroll, which makes more sense than vertical on a desktop or laptop. All seemed cohesive, and nothing was weird; all had the same aesthetics and buttons. And also, what I like the most, is that as you didn’t see the “Desktop” at all, just that huge Start Menu and the fullscreen apps, called Metro Apps, everything made sense and you were not worrying about resources or specific configurations, you just used the apps, like you do in your phone, no addons, extensions or different UIs depending on the app.
Of course, as people weren’t used to it, it was a flop. However, I really loved it, and I would love to have it back, but I don’t think it will.
The same happened to the XBOX 360 menu! It was minimalist too, same kind of aesthetics, no ads, no bloatware, just pure compute, well, in this case, gaming! You had the home, games, and friends tabs, where you had a specific action to do on each one. Sounds were pleasing and calming, which made the experience better.
Social Media Manipulation
Well, now the evil part. Those nice designs, in my opinion, went away for more corporate and low-cost designs. We had flat designs and what I hate the most, anti-consumer design in mind… Now it’s not just the colors or the buttons on the UI, but the way the UI works.
YouTube Thumbnails
Let’s start with this garbage platform, YouTube. It always has been an incredible place to see wonderful videos, from nostalgic videos to funny ones. Until the freaking thumbnails were placed by the user. Now you have this stupid “YouTube Face” where the YouTuber makes an excited or surprised face even if it’s just a tutorial or a review of a water bottle.
Infinite Feed
And if that wasn’t enough, YouTube Shorts added the infinite scroll, so there is no cooldown even if you are burning 5 hours of life there. So, with the YouTube thumbnails, it made for an awful experience. Without even talking about the infinite ads…
There is an ongoing lawsuit against YouTube and Meta for these kinds of addictive tricks that make people hooked on their garbage. I really hope this ends well, but money always makes these things end badly for the consumer. I’d like to see the infinite scroll disappear and add more settings that the user can change to make a great experience and really enjoy watching content there. No shorts, no crazy ads, no AI slop, and no uploaded thumbnails, please! I know with browser extensions you can change this, but I mean regarding the default experience, so it doesn’t affect everyone who uses the mobile or TV apps.
Remember the chronological feed?!
Boredom
And this social media rant brings us to a video I saw from Dr. Arthur Brooks from Harvard Business Review. We have to be bored to come up with great ideas. Also, our brain needs time to process our day-to-day, so if we keep putting it under noise, it’s harder. We have to do things we like and entertain ourselves, but not compulsively, more like take the time we need to do something great and not too many things, but not wrong. For instance, I loved Subnautica, so I wanted to learn about real-life marine species, so I watched a video about how marine species change based on their depth. The deeper you go, the more transparent and glowy they are, because that acts as camouflage. So it was a video of about 15 minutes, and I was satisfied because I learned a lot. Then I went for a snack and played the bass my friends gifted to me to improve my skills.
Just keep a balance and don’t let the platforms take your precious time that you can use for wonderful things.
Thank you for reading!