Member-only story
The Interface Affects How You Think
How different software primes our brains in different ways
Our brains are easily primed, which then dictates our actions, which then changes how we think.
Before we realize this, we’re just swimming in water without knowing what water is.
Now that we’re aware of it, we can actively train our brains (we each only have one, so training it in one part can affect another! Consciously, this is called learning transfer), or at the very least be mindful of how our brains are being affected by the many stimuli in our lives. There’s an escalating competition for each of our attention, convincing us that what somebody else has to say is more important than what we have to say.
There’s a lot for further exploration, but I want to briefly explore how software primes our brains:
1.
Technology, media, and particularly software, prime much of our brains right now. At Napkin Math, Evan Armstrong writes:
If you spend enough time on the website, you’ll eventually hear the phrase “Twitter brain.” This is where if you spend enough time using it, you’ll allegedly have a suboptimal brain that prioritizes quick takes. And I mean…yes? But also — there is Substack brain! This is where you place too much weight on the…
