Tell HN: Dream/Nightmare of “Engagement”
Last night I had a dream. (No, this isn't a parable; I literally dreamed this).
People wore a VR rig that could also monitor their vital signs. Facebook[1] used this to drive "engagement" - the more oxygen the user consumed, the more engaged they are.
That is, engagement was driven to the point that it became a physically measurable load on the user. "Engagement" was literally sapping peoples' physical energy.
Just a dream? Facebook's rebrand and stated new direction seem to indicate that they're going in this direction. (They might not take it this far, of course. Then again, they might.)
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[1] I say "Facebook", even though in my dream I never saw a logo or a brand on the UI. It looked like a FB-style feed, though.