Removing Digital Friction

My phone rang. I glanced at it and silently groaned.

It was my mother.

(Now, hold up. Some of you are already at DEFCON 1 with a lecture. Yes, I should be happy any time my mother calls. Just let me finish the story!)

The evening before I had taken my mom’s iPhone and upgraded it to a new iPhone. It was pretty easy. I double-checked data, email, etc.

But guaranteed this was a tech support call. Some are easy. Some are hard. One never knows.

I take a deep breath and answer.

Moment of Proof

Mom: “Hi, sorry to bother you. I am at the Apple Store buying an Apple Watch. My Apple ID is <xxxxxx>, correct?”

Me: "Correct."

For a second, I am mildly annoyed she didn’t tell me she was doing this. If something goes wrong, guess who is fixing it? But then I get excited.

Me: “Remind me why you are getting an Apple Watch?”

Mom: “I miss calls if my phone isn’t next to me. Sometimes I don’t have pockets when I walk the dog, and I don’t like to carry the phone in my hand.”

Her answer makes total sense. I ask her a few more questions and we end the call.

I am grinning. This call made my day. I was happy for her, and this moment supported a hypothesis I have been exploring.

Invisible Friction

I frequently think about the digital divide. I am not talking about the common definition of high-speed internet access. I am talking about access to better information, content, and communities.

This topic became more personal this past July. I wrote about the moment in an essay Invisible Friction. An excerpt:

My 81-year-old father asked me, “If I want to listen to a podcast, how would I do that?”

This surprised me. He’s not afraid of trying something new. I gave a quick, distracted answer, “Press the purple podcast button on your phone, and try a few?”

As weeks passed, I couldn’t shake the podcast moment. He’s as tech-savvy as some of my 50-year old contemporaries who listen to podcasts. If he was stuck, then every octogenarian and septuagenarian was also stuck.

I tried to visualize the challenges he anticipated. Which podcast to choose? If I follow the instructions, will I still run into problems? Do I really need podcasts in my life?

While pondering this, I noticed people walking around with old iPhones. Easy to spot: large font on small screens.

What was the invisible friction stopping them from upgrading? It wasn’t money in most cases.

And so, I started exploring this subject with the obsessiveness I shared in The Turkey Report.

Pushing Through the Friction

Upgrading technology at the right time improves the quality of life.

To understand user behavior, you need to observe. But first, one needs to take an empathetic journey. So, I went through the upgrade process myself and noted the potential friction points. There were many.

I then sat with my mother and a few other non-digital natives who wanted to upgrade their phones. I watched and listened as they explained their thought process.

Every one of them hit questions where they lacked knowledge or context to answer confidently. When I provide what was missing, they made good decisions and kept moving.

Apple and the wireless carriers cleverly drive customers down a path to maximize their profits. I also pointed out these moments.

I enjoyed helping, and it was fun to see the outcomes. Each person said they would have abandoned the process had I not been sitting there.

There were also funny moments. I live-tweeted my experience with my parents:

When we were done, I read the thread back to them. We were all in tears. We played the stereotypical roles perfectly.

On the Journey Now

Good news: it has never been easier to migrate the contents from old phone to new phone.

Bad news: there are 20+ micro-decisions one needs to make. You can end up wasting money, wasting time, and/or feeling stupid along the way.

Once you decide to work through the invisible friction, second-order benefits may emerge. Like my mother walking into the Apple Store to buy the Apple Watch she says she’s wanted for years.

There may even be 3rd-order benefits. My father was with her at the Apple Store. He bought an Apple Watch, too.