Calm Technology

Chapter 2. Principles of Calm Technology

The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.

Consider writing, perhaps the first information technology... Not only do books, magazines and newspapers convey written information, but so do street signs, billboards, shop signs and even graffiti. Candy wrappers are covered in writing.

The constant background presence of these products of “literacy technology” does not require active attention, but the information to be conveyed is ready for use at a glance.

...we are trying to conceive a new way of thinking about computers in the world, one that takes into account the natural human environment and allows the computers themselves to vanish into the background.

—MARK WEISER, “THE COMPUTER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY”

The Limited Bandwidth of Our Attention

THIS CHAPTER WILL COVER the principles of designing Calm Technology and how they can work to conserve and respect human attention. If there’s one fundamental truth that demands a new approach to technology, it’s this: although the number of alerts vying for our attention has increased, the amount of attention we have remains the same. Imagine if interacting with writing, Mark Weiser’s example of an ideal information technology, required as much active attention as our current technology requires.

Today we face overwhelming information in almost every aspect of our lives. No longer is data something ...