Our fingers have memories of their own. Ask any person in their 30s how magical it was to type on a K9 keyboard on a Nokia phone. Our thumbs knew the frequency of repetitions needed to reach a letter (66644 99933244) by heart, even when our brains didn’t perhaps follow. We could even type without looking! But that wasn’t my best trick.
Of all the silly things to take pride in, one of my greatest accomplishments as a teenager was to delete the most ‘recently dialed’ number from my call list. Without using my eyes or a single expression; phone deep in my pocket with my hands. Trust me, this was a superpower if you had strict parents and had to tip off your brother.
The interesting thing is, our fingers can still do this; albeit for less life-threatening purposes. Notice how less brainpower it takes to take out your smartphone, swipe to unlock, swipe to menu and find Facebook, Messenger or Whatsapp. Now, do it again without looking.
See? Those two thumbs know where things are. It’s muscle memory, especially if you’re an avid social media user like I am. And this isn’t new information. Tech companies have been capitalizing such behavioral sciences for years. They know the reach and depth of your movements and place addictive apps strategically. It’s a mandatory part of UI Design.
And yet, deleting numbers have gotten much harder.