Nat🔆
Apparently someone shared my article about ethical anti-design on Hacker News and I saw a number of people talking about how the name carries some negative connotations, and that something like pro-social or humane design would be better

Honestly, yeah

I like the name ethical anti-design because it's eye-catchingly ironic and it really specifically describes what you're doing--that is, putting more friction around traditionally addictive behaviors. Pro-human design is a more positive way of framing it. It also sounds like it could be an umbrella term for a bunch of ethical design practices, one of which might be ethical anti-design.
Apr 16, 2021 at 10:01amWeb
Show threadCochiseApr 16, 2021
@nat I like "anti-design" because it's provocative, denounces that design is dominated by corporate funded anti ethical pratices.
Show threadNat🔆Apr 16, 2021
@cochise Yeah, it's definitely got a more revolutionary tone to it, which is exactly what we're going for
Show threadpodikiApr 16, 2021
@nat That was me 🙃 ! I was surprised it wasn't on HN before, seemed like exactly the thing to discuss there. I appreciate the article, thanks for writing it (and down with infinite scroll, for many reasons!)
Show threadNat🔆Apr 17, 2021
@podiki Thank you for your thoughts! I always love hearing about this stuff from real people; it makes me feel more sane
Show threadHans-Christoph SteinerApr 17, 2021
@nat I applaud your effort to create a non-addictive fediverse app! I also think the anti-design term is problematic. User-centered design should be focused on what the user wants out of the tool. Few users want to become addicts, so the existing tools of user-centered design apply to making non-addictive software. The root of the problem comes from #SurveillanceCapitalism, where the customer pays for the user's attention, so the companies must keep users "engaged". This is unethical design.
Show threadNat🔆Apr 17, 2021
@eighthave And the Fediverse is probably the best shot at uprooting that problem we'll ever have
Show threadQuickSticksApr 18, 2021
@nat just wanted say it's a great article, really interesting read! Looking forward to seeing what comes out of it :)