On personal goals
Today, I've realised my overarching goal as a software engineer: create digital experiences that help improve mental health for the people using them.
Unwittingly I myself have trended towards community software where capitalism, media manipulation and corporate influence is minimised (open-source, privacy first, self-hosting), and writing software with these values in mind.
In my experience, capitalism and corporate software distort the incentives of software for the financial benefit of it's backers. Media manipulation uses information overload and content agendas to influence the news cycle and change the common values we live by. This ultimately is more important to them than the wellbeing of the person experiencing the artifact, but not to me.
How have I been unwittingly trying to create positive user experiences:
- Having ownership over your content through blogging software that does not demand your attention.
- Creating a safe space for content consumption of trusted resources.
- Reducing friction in everyday tasks also benefits mental health and reduces frustration.
- Having peace of mind working on technologies that avoid complexity,
- Building foundational projects to help understand how to think about replacement products that contain these values.
- Helping people make time for oneself.