beware of the default
eleven sentences on default settings and designing our own decisions
I’ve been thinking a lot about how our decisions usually start from a default.
The way we interface with the physical world generally has a consistent, long-term default, but our interface with the digital world changes constantly.
Sticking with the default settings on the tools we use feels comforting because there’s an assumption that the creators probably know best.
But there’s no reason to assume that the data we consume or the tools we rely on are set up to encourage the decisions we want.
I’m increasingly feeling that if I’m not designing my own decisions, then someone else is designing them for me.
Even if truly ‘neutral design’ is impossible, things could definitely be better.
Our subscriptions auto-renew, meeting invites assume 30-minute slots, boxes come pre-ticked, autoplay is enabled, and our search results are sorted by invisible priorities.
I’m trying to develop the habit of pausing with every new tool or dataset to ask: “Is this default actually right for me?”
Having the wrong default settings for your purposes can have a butterfly effect on the entire output and send you down the wrong decision path.
It feels like a good idea to try and reclaim some agency by investing more time up front in the settings of the tools we use.
I expect this will also have a causal effect on producing better outcomes over the long term.