Friction

Summary

Friction is the resistance that interrupts automatic action. It can be waste, delay, and unnecessary effort. It can also be the pause that keeps speed from becoming carelessness. In the right place, friction protects care, consent, proportion, and agency.

Framing

Modern product design is trained to remove friction: fewer steps, faster flows, smoother defaults, less hesitation. Much of that work matters. Bad friction punishes intent. It turns simple tasks into labour and forces attention onto things that do not deserve it. But not every pause is a defect. Some pauses are where judgement happens. A confirmation, a comparison, a visible consequence, a moment to review, a chance to refuse — these are not always inefficiencies. Sometimes they are the only thing stopping a system from doing exactly what it has been optimised to do too quickly. Useful friction is not difficulty for its own sake. It is resistance placed where speed would otherwise outrun understanding. The question is not whether friction should exist. The question is what kind of friction is present, who it serves, and whether it preserves agency rather than merely adding effort.

Core tensions

• Speed vs care
• Automation vs agency