Reading 1: A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design
This article challenged me not just to think about technology differently, but to think about my own body in a way I hadn’t before. I’ve never really considered how much my hands do until I read this, and how trained they are to respond to tactile stimuli. The jar had never even occurred to me until I read this piece. The idea that we’ve somehow accepted a future where our main way of interacting is through a single flat surface feels, honestly, a little absurd now. Victor’s relation of tying shoes with numb fingers to the uncomfortable, clumsy feeling of using a touchscreen was also very interesting. It’s like we’ve trained ourselves to tolerate the flat, lifeless interaction because it’s become such an integral part of our daily lives. That realization made me question how many other “innovations” we’ve accepted without thinking critically about what they’re replacing.
Victor’s point that “technology doesn’t just happen” was also really impactful. The future isn’t just something that will occur with no warning but rather something that we have a say and control over. We are not and should not be just passive consumers of technology and we can and should demand more human-centered, embodied interaction. The piece didn’t just critique existing technology, it kind of made me mourn what tactile feelings are being lost in this rush for sleek minimalism.
Reading 2: Follow-Up
I like that the author did not try to fake any sweetness in his responses and was extremely straight up in his replies. Still, he reframes the rant not as a complaint, but as a call to arms for future innovation. Rather than proposing a specific fix, he emphasized the importance of recognizing what’s missing in current interaction design which, as mentioned before, is the lack of physical, tactile, and dynamic engagement with technology nowadays. His point isn’t that iPads or voice commands are inherently bad, but that they represent a limited vision if they become the final stop in interface development because of the lack of tactility. Through analogies to historical tech like early cameras and color film, Victor highlights how true change begins with noticing a gap and daring to explore it.