Forms of technology are usually created to make our lives easier and to save us time. And most tech these days takes the form of an application or an interface existing at the tips of our fingers or in the palms of our hands.
Precious commodity
Time is by far our most valuable commodity. You can always make more money. You can lose weight. You can get more comfortable. But you can’t gain time. You can’t buy it. You can’t borrow it. No matter how much you beg and plead, it ain’t coming back.
So the best thing we, as humans, can do is optimise it. Get the most out of every minute that we can. Milk that proverbial time-cow for every drop, because when it’s gone, it’s gone. For good. No take-backsies.
It makes total sense that we leverage technology to simplify tasks so that they take less time. And we can use that time to do the things we love or spend it with the people we love. Or just binge some new series. Let’s be honest, sometimes we all just need a four-hour session of Breaking Bad [or insert your favourite binge-worthy show here].
User Experience
We are always in the pursuit of making our lives simpler, easier or more fun. But ultimately saving us time. It often boils down to the user experience (usually driven by the user interface) of the platform or application you’re using.
Sometimes the tech we’re using to save us time ends up wasting it instead. Any time we’re struggling to find something or fumbling through numerous menus or pages where content is unclear.
My wife LOVES using Checkers Sixty60. It saves her from going to the store and makes her life so much better by what? Saving her time! However, when something is out of stock and she needs to search for an item, the interface lets her down. She gets frustrated. Why? Because the very app designed to save her time is now wasting it.
So the next time you’re using tech, in whatever form it takes, ask yourself these questions:
Is it serving you? Is it actually saving you time, or is it costing you?
Are you the user… or the used?
Ditch the ones that don’t add value. Ditch the ones that waste your time. Chances are there are better versions of the ones you were using anyway…
And if you’re in the business of offering digital solutions to human problems, make sure that you’re speaking to the humans you’re creating for. Save them time, don’t waste it. Or they’ll find something else. And they won’t be back to try again. After all… you wouldn’t, would you?