What it is
An anti-human system is any design that optimizes around people instead of for them: the customer service phone tree with three menus before a human, the QR code menu, the self-checkout that films you and flags you for theft, the parking lot where pedestrians walk wherever cars drive, the stroad, the neighborhood with no sidewalks, the cafe with seating designed to make you leave. Each one was put in place for a reason that sounded fine in a spreadsheet. Together they form an environment where the human is the edge case.
Why it matters
These systems do two kinds of damage. They delete contact, because every kiosk and phone tree is a person you didn't talk to. And they teach a quieter lesson: when the system fails you, it feels like you did something wrong. Enough of that and people stop expecting the world to have room for them in it. None of this is inevitable. The original goals of these systems can almost always be met in ways that remember the human, but only if someone notices the design is hostile in the first place. Naming the pattern is the first step to routing around it.
What to practice
- Route around them when you can: the staffed lane, the walk-in visit, the phone call that starts with a name
- When you build or buy systems, ask who has to fight it to be treated like a person
- Support the businesses that kept humans in the loop; they're holding the line for everyone
- Notice when a system makes you feel at fault, and check whether the design failed you instead
Go deeper
- Blog: Anti-Human Systems
- Blog: From A Digital World Back To Analog
- Blog: How to Avoid Humans