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I like this idea, I've been debating the mental clutter digital experiences can add to the mix. There's something about tangible things anchoring the mind. Like

I like this idea, I've been debating the mental clutter digital experiences can add to the mix. There's something about tangible things anchoring the mind. Like the most recent example we forayed into is looking to purchase a physical kitchen timer just to find and crank the thing and get a reminder going. The barrier there is so low that I think we'd actually get in the habit of timing things more readily. Compared to setting a timer in the phone there's just too many small obstacles and interference that can get in the way that in aggregate the activation energy just becomes too much and the timing operation never gets done. There's something to say about a physical thing demanding less mental mobilization in some scenarios where going tangible makes better sense from an experience the world and get things done perspective.

throwayws 6y ago
Anchoring the mind ... small thoughts. Deciding what to focus on yourself instead of the app showing you random screens which the developer thinks are currently important. The tool being out of the way and only the important things in-front of you. Where only you yourself decide what is important.
- jxramos 6y ago
  Yah, I've been trying to articulate this weird like "leveraging of muscle memory" to increase productivity. App and OS UIs can often put too many small hoops in the way that you use some other part of your brain to jump through them. Muscle memory has a way of like bypassing and cutting to the chase and doesn't have this mental cost associated with a context switch if you will. Somehow doing something physical has some tie in with like a "mental background task" that doesn't disturb the "main thread" high level cognitive processes that I want reserved for matters that deserve deep attention. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that there's a precision of attention in digital UIs just to click the right button and just all the aiming involved though simple actually has a pretty tight tolerance with fine motor skills and large room for error compared to a quick and dirty gross motion you can get away with for things in the real world. Hopefully that makes sense.

throwayws 6y ago

Anchoring the mind ... small thoughts. Deciding what to focus on yourself instead of the app showing you random screens which the developer thinks are currently important. The tool being out of the way and only the important things in-front of you. Where only you yourself decide what is important.

jxramos 6y ago
Yah, I've been trying to articulate this weird like "leveraging of muscle memory" to increase productivity. App and OS UIs can often put too many small hoops in the way that you use some other part of your brain to jump through them. Muscle memory has a way of like bypassing and cutting to the chase and doesn't have this mental cost associated with a context switch if you will. Somehow doing something physical has some tie in with like a "mental background task" that doesn't disturb the "main thread" high level cognitive processes that I want reserved for matters that deserve deep attention. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that there's a precision of attention in digital UIs just to click the right button and just all the aiming involved though simple actually has a pretty tight tolerance with fine motor skills and large room for error compared to a quick and dirty gross motion you can get away with for things in the real world. Hopefully that makes sense.