Microsoft has a fantastic new ad ‘Really’ for their new mobile device OS (ht Andrew Lark).
It pushes a current trend to the extreme, and their claim of difference is “in and out faster”. Really?
I get absorbed in my mobile device not because it takes so long to do stuff - Microsoft’s claim - but because I enjoy the task I’m doing with the device.
Now the painful reality is that after Michaela also got a mobile device, we both are more inclined to pick them up and listen to podcasts/play solitaire, when everybody else is busy. I guess I did it before I just didn’t notice the impact.
The problem this induces is once the original people finish their task, they see others engaged in their own thing and therefore find another solo task. The technology that helps fill in the little gaps and avoid watching boring TV is actually also keeping us apart.
After noticing this, I find I need to-do nothing more, to allow a better something to happen, which feels counter intuitive.