Train of thoughts. Existence and extinction. Are we the only species on this planet that worry about death and afterlife? What makes us more human and different from other animals? On the other thought, why do we mark us a human and separate from other lives on this planet? We are not privileged species and we should be treated equally among others. Not to mention that we are so divided among ourselves. 

The world itself is eventually going to be doomed, most likely by humans rather than extraterrestrial factors. Looking back at our history, were most disasters manmade or natural? Among those manmade disasters, are most of them due to our curiosity or cruelty? 

Humanity has a unique dualism. Our curiosity helps us evolving but also lures us to open the Pandora box. If we treat the invention of atomic bomb as the most demonic invention in the past century and make Oppenheimer as one of the most controversial figures, simply out of the fear of uncontrollable power that it might release and create detrimental result on us, is population explosion in the recent decades the other extreme of this issue? Uncontrolled population explosion is another atomic bomb to the ecosystem and detrimental threat to other species. What makes us saying right and wrong on our doings and who is the one judging our collaborative decisions? 

What I believe is that most of us are just ordinary, mediocre persons who are naturally lazy in the comfort zones of their lives and works. They are easily distracted, satisfied, irritated and frustrated by moments of happiness and sorrow. Those emotions often exist momentarily and activated within their short span of attention.   

We had created remarkable and diverse cultures in the process of revolution, what makes country leaders decide to polarise opinion and encourage polarisation of our beliefs and religions? That sounds like a paradox: we create diversity but want to destroy them at the same time. There is a trend of more ups and downs happening more frequently in recent years. Regional wars that threaten generation by generation; big companies abuse labours while making tons of profits for the rest of populations. News are less relevant nowadays comparing to decades ago but because of the rise of internet we have the privilege to access on what’s happening more instantly then ever. Could this be a bad thing? The cult of productivity is bringing us unnecessary attention to everything that tries to catch our attention every second of being awake. Too much negative news cause disaster fatigue, too much positive news did the same negative effect on the other hand, it creates toxic positivity that makes us delusional and bipolar.  On global scale the world is becoming a better place but on locale level our lives are getting busier without any good reasons. 

A friend of mine noted these words down and shared with me days ago on the trend in FMCG (fast-moving comment goods) industry:

> I think we have a fetishised view of efficiency, describing what we might call the ‘cult of efficiency’. Our consumer decisions usually revolve around the cheapest fastest and most convenient way of acquiring goods, think about E-commerce. I think it’s partially a result of being demanded to live quickly (fast-paced work environments). The entirety of UX design is based upon this cult of efficiency, erasing pain points, removing blockers and bottlenecks. I think even with sustainable design as we know it, we’re still trying to always maintain this  efficiency as a part of our process with very little compromise.

Our lives will be most likely become very pathetic if you decided to work for someone for the whole life. At some point you need to be own boss to own a business, whether big or small. Speaking of starting a business, how many business owners put environmental and sustainability concern at the very beginning of their expansion? After years of advocating the important of sustainability, we are still prone to make decision that will generate revenue in shortest among of time and lightest consumption of resources while ignoring [green premium](https://breakthroughenergy.org/our-approach/the-green-premium/) as much as we could. 

Consumerism is one of the biggest culprits behind this. Fashion items come at an astonishing and unprecendented speed that never happened before. People are brainwashed by commercials and possessed with illusions that they actually need so many things businesses tell them so. After years of depleting resources we start to see how environment repay us back with more extreme weather and natural disasters. Again are these natural disasters really **natural**? Or they are more like human induced result?

---

*Original post [here](https://blog.imwiththou.com/posts/train-of-thoughts).*

Train of thoughts

I think the Internet we are facing nowadays is no longer the Internet we envisioned two decades ago. The boom (around 2000 to 2010) had passed and digital capitalism had taken over most of the space online. Advertisements, promoted content, paid partnership, crazy algorithms, drop shopping - these are things that really made it so much worse in the past few years, especially since the start of covid pandemic.

However.

There’s always hope, no matter how small the glimpse it is, out of crisis and dark times. The consumption of data and information should be replaced by slow, insightful and profound consumption of knowledge and sharing instead. Surprisingly I read something recently that the information every individual consume per day on average is around the total information feeding to an individual in 19th century within one whole year. With more information being fed forcibly to us, I think the ability to recognise and filter useful information from a bunch of valueless information is critical to be integrated as part of contemporary digital lifestyle.

This will require us to differentiate what truly matters to our life and bring us value, both intrinsically and extrinsically. A slow living lifestyle will definitely help along this journey. By slowing down our pace of everyday living, we take more time to appreciate and reflect moments in life.

Speaking of community, I think a good community should be small enough to bring up closer engagement for everyone, but meanwhile big enough to build up rapports and ripple inspiration among members.

---

*Original post [here](https://blog.imwiththou.com/posts/on-contemporary-living-in-digital-age)*

On contemporary living in digital age

## Introduction

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in various industries has been nothing short of revolutionary, and the design world is no exception. By streamlining processes, optimising user experience, and improving efficiency, AI has the potential to transform the design process as we know it. In this blog post, we will explore different ways AI can be integrated into the design process, focusing on key use cases that can revolutionise your workflow.

## EyeQuant for attention maps and component perception

EyeQuant is an AI-powered tool that allows designers to create attention maps without conducting user testing. It helps identify which areas of a design are most likely to capture users' attention and ensures that crucial components are perceived as intended. By analysing designs with EyeQuant, designers can make informed decisions about layout and visual hierarchy.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2F9NrWVapXXeftnNMpO6aoSjLEmfh2%2Fa3hy2bbdatEecDYexubR%2Fe92f4b51-db53-445c-aafc-be93e4404c7b.png?alt=media&token=8390a2b8-bc29-4470-b63d-6bd58c9c9ed2","id":"e92f4b51-db53-445c-aafc-be93e4404c7b","width":910,"height":322,"filename":"image3.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Image from Eye Quant","border":false}]}
```

## ChatGPT for documentation, process enhancement, and jargon explanation

ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model that can assist in creating and editing design documentation, streamlining communication, suggesting improvements to existing processes, and explaining complex design jargons and concepts in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. By utilising ChatGPT, design teams can save time and focus on creative tasks while ensuring that their documentation is comprehensive and up-to-date.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2F9NrWVapXXeftnNMpO6aoSjLEmfh2%2Fa3hy2bbdatEecDYexubR%2Fd02da0c4-67ff-4b5d-b318-e9321c2af8b6.png?alt=media&token=4328ff40-9c97-43cc-8124-e785876cc5cf","id":"d02da0c4-67ff-4b5d-b318-e9321c2af8b6","width":2136,"height":1602,"filename":"DraggedImage.0b9e7fc4540a4e1ba69d83449d884d11.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Using ChatGPT to explain concept in simple manner.","border":false}]}
```

## AI for user scenarios and brainstorming ideas

AI can be used to generate user scenarios and brainstorm ideas, enabling design teams to better understand their target audience and anticipate potential use cases. By analysing user data and preferences, AI can recommend innovative concepts that cater to user needs and help designers make informed decisions.

## Magician for icon generation

Magician is an AI-powered tool that generates icons based on text prompts, allowing designers to create custom visuals with minimal effort. This can be particularly useful for creating unique and cohesive design elements.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2F9NrWVapXXeftnNMpO6aoSjLEmfh2%2Fa3hy2bbdatEecDYexubR%2Fb31a9255-8c8d-4963-acb6-bbe590ca9c12.gif?alt=media&token=a18041af-7701-4742-930a-d02c3a97a4db","id":"b31a9255-8c8d-4963-acb6-bbe590ca9c12","width":720,"height":480,"filename":"magic-icon-min - 01.gif","type":"image/gif","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

## AI for research insights, code generation, and layout suggestions

AI can gather research insights, generate code for further customisation, and recommend page layouts that enhance user experience. This enables designers to create more effective and user-friendly designs while reducing the time spent on manual tasks.

## AI for UX writing, proofreading, and communication

AI tools can assist in UX writing, proofreading, composing paragraphs and emails, and suggesting design improvements. This ensures that design communications are clear, concise, and effective, ultimately improving the overall design process.

## Generating design checklists

AI can generate design checklists to help designers stay organised and ensure that all essential elements are included in their projects. This results in a more streamlined design process and higher-quality end products.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2F9NrWVapXXeftnNMpO6aoSjLEmfh2%2Fa3hy2bbdatEecDYexubR%2F63dab5bc-b437-4deb-b687-0bc3ca5601be.png?alt=media&token=0ef11425-8c67-43da-8a83-ed109db3b5b3","id":"63dab5bc-b437-4deb-b687-0bc3ca5601be","width":1774,"height":1718,"filename":"DraggedImage.0101f1a6c0cb43a1934a88c7ddbd3640.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Generating design system audit checklist using ChatGPT","border":false}]}
```

## Conclusion

As we've seen, AI has the potential to transform the design process by enhancing creativity, efficiency, and communication. By integrating AI tools into your workflow, you can stay ahead of the curve and produce outstanding designs that cater to your users' needs.

AI tools mentioned in this writing:

[EyeQuant](https://www.eyequant.com/)

[ChatGPT](https://chat.openai.com/)

[Magician](https://magician.design/)

AI and Design: Unleashing Creativity and Efficiency in Your Design Process

A few months ago I've [criticised the new story feature in Telegram](https://blog.imwiththou.com/posts/telegram-story) and I thought it was created to compete with Instagram story in terms of getting active users and a share of the huge social media market.

It turned out this feature had recently became my favourite and I was wrong in my judgement on the story feature in Telegram. It might be just a wonderful thing for me to enjoy what social media should be in this explosive information era. Let me explain why.

At the very beginning this story feature was only open to Telegram Premium users, which was the main monetisation model for Telegram to open up a subscription channel so they can cope with the operational cost. In return the subscribers get perks and benefits such as more customisations to their telegram chats, faster uploading speed, larger file limits, et cetera. I was thinking something such as *“if I could use the service for free and it’s already powerful enough for me to use daily without these customisation features, why would I pay for additional perks that I may not even care to use?”*

Things changed dramatically when I started to notice how frustrating it is to use Instagram by then.

As [Jerry Gogosian wrote in his article “Social Media Weapon”](https://real-review.org/home):

> Every picture of a friend you actually follow is spaced out by 4-8 advertisements, as well as several related accounts you don’t follow. Where are my friends? Where are their paintings? Where I the weirdness I love so much online? It’s buried. You don’t even get to see your friend’s babies or lattes anymore. The era is long gone.

We don’t have many choices when facing the fact that the product we are using daily is getting crappier with annoying advertisements and promoted content, to an extent that we are seeing more what we do not wish to see than what we are expecting to see there. It is not just simply annoying, it feels like an invasion to our personal life and time. At the end of the day the time of our own is ruthlessly eaten by commercials and promotions online that you won’t give a shit of, and even just simply ignoring them is getting ridiculously harder nowadays (TikTok is another perfect example).

That’s the moment when I decided to take a break from the overwhelming Instagram life. I turned off the notification and set app-specific limit in screen time setting, hoping I’d spend less time browsing endless ads and non-relevant content that do not help me at all.

It’s not enough. It is just pure evil that Meta is turning ourselves into its products, digging huge potential of drop-shipping and marketplace thing. The more time we spend, even just thinking about it, the more it will learn from our habit and behaviours and improve its algorithm to target more accurate promoted content to us. **We are exchanging our time with their profit that don’t even go into our own pocket, we are burning our time for Meta for free. We are the free products.**

I decided to try something different this time.

My friend gifted me three-month Telegram premium subscription from Xmas last year and it was activated instantly. I’ve dig deeper into its story feature.

It’s still pretty primitive: there’s no direct sharing from app or website to story as what Instagram is capable of; there’s no direct tagging feature in the story design except for description section; the doddle feature is very responsive and fun, not-so-surprisingly, given how fluid and smooth interactions and animations are across the whole Telegram app. The list goes on and on, there’s still a lot to refine and polish.

You know what’s the most important thing? **There’s no ads. NONE.**

I felt I’m back to the days when Instagram was born as a simple social media platform for photography enthusiasts to contribute their shots; for designers and artists to share their works. It’s simple, intuitive and passionate.

We don’t need a grand app to put everything in, we just need a lightweight app that helps us to release our passion and creativity, possible build up meaningful connections from there too.

I do not mind paying a few bucks for such clean experience, at least I can gain back the control of my time, not forcing myself wasting them on meaningless promoted content. I think it’s fair enough to exchange the cost of a meal for quality time. There’s nothing comes for free in this economy, when it’s appropriate to pay for something - and such action can greatly enhance digital wellbeing and quality of life - by all means we should go for it, unless we want to be consumed by big companies and become their free products.

---

*Original post [here](https://blog.imwiththou.com/posts/instagram-maze).*

Fleeing from Instagram maze

Aesthetics, details, efficiency, functionality, simplification.