The design of shallow thinking

"As many of us, I grew up online, and along with many other technological shifts, I've witnessed the internet going from being a space that inspired reflection to one that actively discourages it. This change didn't feel like a natural evolution, but among other things, I believe it was the result of design decisions that ended up fundamentally altering how billions of people now think (sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but hear me out)."

"The place metaphor was also reinforced by the language built around the internet: having a 'home' page, website 'addresses', 'going' online, and 'browsing' a page like wandering through a physical location. Some of the first mainstream browsers had names that related to travel and discovery, like 'Netscape Navigator' or 'Internet Explorer', which quite explicitly suggests there's uncharted territory to discover. Even 'Safari' (though slightly later) continued this exploration metaphor."

Deep, reflective thinking has been eroding for years, independent of AI. Early internet experiences created a sense of place, anchored to the family computer and signalled by distinctive connection sounds. Place metaphors shaped language and design: home pages, addresses, 'going' online, browsing, and browser names that evoked travel and discovery. Those metaphors encouraged exploration and borrowed spatial affordances—doors, rooms, corners and edges—so people entered, researched, communicated, and left. Design decisions over time altered user behavior and cognition, fundamentally changing how billions think and contributing to an environment that discourages sustained reflection. Subsequent shifts, such as the rise of smartphones, continued that transformation.

Read at Medium