The myth of a friction-less existence

In digital marketing and specifically e-commerce, we often talk about reducing ‘friction’ in the customer experience. It means making it as easy as possible for customers to find what they’re looking for, purchase it, and receive it with as little hassle as possible. It’s what companies like Amazon have perfected. Fewer clicks, intuitive design, and fast delivery.

The result? Higher conversion rates, more sales, and everyone is happy because they have saved time and minimized frustration.

The same can be said about our online existence in other environments. Whether Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It all is optimized to be a frictionless environment so that we can easily scroll, swipe, watch, follow, post, and unfollow. It’s simple and relatively ‘stress-free’.

(As far as the user experience. The content… that is another blog post)

So it is no wonder that we as humans are drawn to environments that limit friction. It’s easy. It’s simple. I don’t like what I see? swipe or unfollow. A person’s comment or post aggravates me? Delete them. A fashion brand becomes annoying with its many emails? Unsubscribe.

The online world can teach and train us to live with frictionless mindsets. We love it, right? Ahh, the wonders of modern technology.

And yet, what is this actually training us to do and be IRL? (In Real Life)

When I drive by my son’s school and I see a group of ten middle schoolers standing around in a circle, with every single one looking down, silent, staring at their phones, I wonder… Is an online frictionless world more attractive and now even more desirable than the real-life adventure of having face-to-face relationships?

Now I am not anti-tech. It’s my career and passion. But I am also very pro-human experience. And when the world of tech and humans clash in ways that I have to choose sides, I will always choose humans.

I think we are at a critical time where we need to be aware of how the online world is impacting us so that we can make choices about how we want to live our lives. How are our environments shaping us?

We must remember that a life lived without friction is not realistic or even desirable. It’s the friction in life that make it interesting, challenging, and fun. It’s the friction that allows us to grow, learn, and become better people.

Friction in relationships? It’s called communication. It’s how we connect, share, challenge, and grow with others.

Friction in our work? It’s called problem-solving and it’s how we create value and make things happen in the world.

Friction in our thoughts? It’s called thinking and it’s how we figure out who we are and what we believe in.

Friction creates resilience. And we need resilience now more than ever.

So the next time you find yourself in a situation where there is friction, instead of trying to avoid it or minimize it, maybe lean into it and see what happens.

Instead of reaching for your phone so that you can quickly go into that frictionless environment, maybe start a conversation with the person next to you.

And see what happens.

💻 ⌨️ 🖥