Reading Bret Victor’s “A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design” made me think differently about how I use technology. The idea that a tool has “two sides”—one that fits the person and one that fits the solution—really stuck with me. It made me realize that most of the digital tools I use today, like phones or tablets, seem to fit the solution well but not necessarily the person. They make things efficient, but they don’t always feel natural or engaging to use. It made me question whether convenience has come at the cost of a deeper, more human form of interaction.
The part about the hands also made me pause. Victor reminds us that our hands aren’t just for manipulation—they’re for feeling. That distinction hit home because I often forget how much information comes through touch. When I’m drawing, typing, or even cooking, my hands constantly sense texture, pressure, and movement. But when I’m on a screen, all that disappears. His point that “touch does the driving and vision helps from the backseat” made me see how backwards our relationship with technology has become. I depend entirely on my eyes, while my hands just tap glass.
I connected most with his frustration about “pictures under glass.” It made me realize how passive I’ve become when using digital devices—how I only swipe, scroll, or pinch, instead of actually making or feeling something. It reminded me how satisfying it is to sketch on paper or build something physical, where every motion feels responsive. Victor’s ideas made me want to look for tools and experiences that let my hands do more than just point. It’s a call to design and use technology that reconnects me to my body, not one that distances me from it.