Strings, however, keep us coming back. Precisely when we don’t want to. And that can be a good or bad thing. Depending on how you look at it.
Feelings can have so much energy, be so strong that they can make us feel isolated. And when we talk to other humans, we realize they feel those feelings too. It helps to acknowledge, “Other people feel this too” to open a path of understanding.
Lock-in isn’t just a problem with how we organize people. After all, we could sell computers with a more efficient way to manage the keys, but we just don’t for several reasons. Costs are the biggest for Apple and Microsoft. But it’s the emotional toll that users don’t want to learn a new way. It’s easier to follow “the standard” that has been set. But, over time, that cost rises. Not in inefficiency. But in locking ourselves into a path. The path becomes a trench. The trench becomes a hole that feels too big to escape. Of course, I’m not talking about keyboards. When we think about education, politics, economics, and the climate crisis, how powerful is the lock-in? It truly says something about humans when friction to change is present and how much time/energy/resources we have to spare.
“Every passing moment is a chance to turn it all around.”
It has stuck with me for nearly 20 years. And it is still true today as it was then.
Every piece of data suggests that kids learn through play. And yet, despite knowing all the evidence and facing an obesity crisis (as well as a mental health crisis), we continually attack physical education and time on the playground. It’s not that we don’t value these things; it’s that they are perceived as unproductive. Systems evolve over years, decades, and even centuries. Once the track we walk is set, it is hard to change. Bureaucracy builds to protect the status quo, not to change it. 
Stare straight at the sun long enough, and you’d probably go blind.
You only need to try it once (I wouldn’t recommend it) to realize that what everyone told you about the dangers of doing such an activity is true.
But the world seems to grow more complicated the farther we move from physical danger. (Other examples: driving without a seatbelt, staying away from heroin, and so forth.)
Yet, when we culturally accept drinking Monster energy drinks or allowing kids to use social media, the culture can be relatively quiet.
We hear about hard skills (tangible skills) and soft skills (interpersonal skills), and perhaps warnings can follow a similar arc.
So if we say, social media isn’t inherently bad for you, it’s only when you overuse it. But the problem is that almost everyone overuses it. We can think of this as a “soft” problem (we still need a better term). And when we juxtapose with, say, operating a vehicle while being distracted as a “hard” problem.
In other words, are consequences obvious and immediate, or are they long-term and ambiguous?
Many assume humanity began in some form of egalitarian state and has since fallen. That story teaches us to keep a narrow lens on the world and how to view its problems. When we choose to keep the narrative simple, we will have a simple way to look at the world. As a result, we develop the moral compass of a child. “Good guys” and “bad guys” type of story arcs.
Implementing a new system can be tricky, not because of the change. Change is inevitable. But the change going forward in any organization is difficult for those who have been there. Everyone who is new coming in doesn’t know any different. Take the extra time with the people who have been there the longest. Not because they are not capable. It’s because they are the most capable. And will be able to help set the culture in the future.
Getting from zero pullups to one is a significant accomplishment. Pretty soon you’ll be to two, then three, and then five. And so on. But the most challenging part is the first one. Starting a business is the same as making the first dollar: it takes a foundation of work to get there. It’s much easier to make money with money than it is to get the first pile. Debt works the opposite.
Compounding our problems makes problems worse. However, compounding our good decisions can also scale.
Black Friday is a term Philadelphia police used to describe the mayhem on the day after Thanksgiving in the 1950s, caused by the influx of shoppers. Perhaps racial tension played a role in the naming of the day. Either way, somebody (a retailer or marketer) decided to take the original story and put a spin on it to make a buck. Using the term “in the black” in the profit column. Either way, the idea stuck. Changing the culture in a primarily negative way and creating status through consumption.
These ideas are so powerful that they change human behavior about when to shop—embracing the chaos. And yes, even get violent to get what you want. It’s capitalism’s finest day. And one of humanity’s ugliest.
I can’t help but think about these things like money, time, status, assimilation, story, etc.—the lengths people will go to fit in, even when the behavior isn’t good for us.
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