I feel like you only see articles like this written by game developers. Something about making video games for a living makes you question the value of what you’re creating.
The longer I remain a software engineer the more I hate relying on computers. Maybe the people closest to the technology are the ones to first realize how superficial and downright damaging these innovations actually are.
I'm kind of with you. In line with the article, its more the application of computers that's the problem - instead of making the world a better place, its a more distracting place.
Is it really worth it shuffling digitized crap around at high speeds if the outcome is a worse human experience because we're only applying it to the low hanging fruit and therefore creating a slippery slope for ourselves...?
The irony is that escaping into a simpler VR world with less distractions can help you deal with this, but I don't think its the right move.
I'm also reminded of Lee Felensteins quote from Steven Levy's Hacker's book. "You're doing all that for the computer!? What are you doing for the people!?"
Computers are nice. The issue lies with the kind of software that are being developed. I have a Kobo device that I put koreader on and it's miles better than the default one because it's actually let you read books how you want to read them. Most of the apps I have focus on being the tools for the use cases I have them for (which is why they are still installed) instead on trying to get in my way every now and then. I love nice visuals and other UX niceties, but I like usefulness more than anything. Some days, I'm really close getting back to my Arch installation. I'd prefer the glitches and do patches instead of suffering another enshitification.
Pfft. If I'm making a game I'm at least bringing a small amount of enjoyment to people's lives. When working to increase the profit margins of tech companies, I'm probably just working towards bringing a small amount of misery to people's lives.
