“Nagging tech can cause head to explode" say scientists
Okay I admit, a headline from the ‘The Specious Times’, but our cognitive capacity is increasingly besieged by ambient aural and visual noise generated from our screen based interactions. At best this ‘noise’ is a mild irritation but cumulatively it can quickly become a maddening cacophony. Furthermore, each adjustment, change, update or reboot requires an action or reaction which again distracts from the flow of activity.
Technology is demanding; from high-maintenance software and services to our needy smart homes and devices. And we seem to be inviting ever more noise, bugs and nags into our lives with quantified-self wearables, monitors, connected services and apps.
Why do we allow ourselves be nagged by technology?
Aural and visual noise is not a new phenomenon nor limited to screen based devices, in the developed world it’s ubiquitous. For instance my car, a committed hypochondriac, nags away malingeringly with bogus beeps and bongs for the slightest of reasons. These translate into banalities such as “I demand a sip of water” but communicated with a pomposity which (perversely I admit) does not illicit sympathy nor indeed action from me anymore. For a start there is no incremental hierarchy of importance, everything is a crisis with that car.
Unfortunately this lack of data perspective persists in tech devices too.
Ignoring annoying alerts, notifications to update software, passwords and profiles is ultimately not a good idea, but it’s the cumulative feeling of constant low-level annoyance that brings on irrational behaviour. And aural and visual intrusions into an activity like driving can be potentially dangerous, as irritation quickly becomes a diversion from the most important focus. Add Sat Nav to this mix and everything goes south.
All of which of course you can switch off, adjust or delete. But when you are busy it is so much more immediate to swipe away a notification rather than adjust your preferences, easier to tap the ‘later’ button on the update reminder rather than to burrow down into the programme or app to download, adjust or customise. So these annoyances persist.
Of course all this matters to brand owners and companies too. My washing machine, a brand with much vaunted engineering credentials, shouts with a shrill beep, a kind of triumphant “Look at me, look what I’ve done, aren’t I clever?” after merely completing the mono-function it was designed to do. This noise is unpleasant, insistent, nagging. In this case the engineering spend obviously did not extend to the aural quality of the product. The audible signature of an appliance should be as customisable as a phone ringtone, in volume terms as well as personality.
How a device or appliance sounds or visually communicates with its user is a critical feature for function and safety as well as the quality of the exploration and experience of the product, but also how people feel about the personality of the product and subconciously by extension the brand itself.
We need to re-set the dialogue with our devices.
Initiatives such as smart meters around the home may become more predictive and integrated, but will still require a level of know-how to set up, adapt or upgrade. The key thing is how the user and device communicate, when, and how often. Our future conversations with our products need to mapped holistically beforehand so that we can plan and adapt the level on which we coexist with them. This is crucial as we all require differing levels of engagement - my aged aunt needs a relatively extensive level of guidance and reassurance to use her devices, I just want to be left alone in peace.
In traditional ‘service design’, the mark of a good valet was that he (invariably a he) was almost invisible and would predict the best time to appear, anticipating one’s needs without needing to be asked. This is where technology needs to be too, invisible, servile, unobtrusive. Polite. And far less needy.
Also I want to use a more natural, familiar language and behaviour to control my things. I want smart things to sense my moods, after all, my dog can and he’s a daft Labrador. When in the right mood at the right time I’ll want to initiate changes. Maybe (metaphorically) enquiring “Hello, how’s it going? Do we need to check anything”? Then I’ll act, when it suits me, not when instructed by a device to do so.
In other words Technology, speak when you are spoken to.
Andy Davey is founder and Creative Director of TKO
Image and text copyright Andy Davey
www.tkodesign.co.uk