Even if you haven’t, you can gather from the title that it’s about how destructive the mechanisms of digital interactions can be. As the New York Times points out, the film is “remarkably effective in sounding the alarm about the incursion of data mining and manipulative technology into our social lives and beyond.”
While I agree there are some nefarious implications in people’s personal lives, there’s a real dilemma that’s affecting our working lives, too.
The instant economy is rewiring our brains to think that everything is a click away. The easier it is to get our needs met, the more entitled we feel. We fail to see the hard work it takes to produce a quality experience.
Now, don’t get me wrong, AI and other technological advances power a potent speed-driven growth engine. It’s great that brands and businesses can save time, money, and resources while continuously evolving user experience.
But this also ends up giving people on both ends of the equation — from your staff to your clients — a built-in bias towards instant gratification.
To me, that is a serious existential threat to the fundamental tenets of quality branding, which include work ethic, craftsmanship, and patience.
