Bret Victor’s rant and point of view is something I hadn’t really considered before. It’s important to keep in mind that the article was written in 2010 when touchscreen technology was still in a rather abysmal state. At that time, the way we interacted with devices was a topic of contention. Today, touchscreen interaction has become the norm and it doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon. While there may be some introduction of haptic gimmicks, it appears that we are moving away from a touch-centric approach, as we have seen since the transition from keypad phones to touchscreen phones. I still remember when BlackBerry used to be the top phone when I was young. The switch from rotary phones to even keypad phones must have been revolutionary at some point.
What the article made me more aware of is the sense of touch. I hadn’t considered how complex our hands are in terms of the different sensory information they gather, such as weight distribution and temperature. It relates to Bret’s rant about wanting to explore and be in touch with this haptic-centric view. It reminded me that I hadn’t played the guitar in a while, so I picked it up. You know, the first time you play the guitar after a long break, your fingertips kind of hurt, even though they are callused from before. There is a visceral reaction when I played the instrument, unlike when I play the guitar on GarageBand, for example. I feel like I have more control over the sound of the guitar, the pressure I put on the strings, palm muting, and sliding the strings. All of these actions provide such good feedback in my opinion when I’m actually playing the instrument. After reading the article, I became more appreciative of this.