The Gruen Transfer is consuming the internet

Summary

Have you ever walked into a supermarket, pharmacy, or department store looking to buy a specific item, only to find the layout confusing? Perhaps you ended up aimlessly strolling around, purchasing other items? This is deliberate, and known as the Gruen Transfer. The 'Transfer' part is the moment that you, as a consumer surrounded by a deliberately confusing layout, lose track of your original intentions. We've all experienced it, and now it's starting to consume the internet. It first appeared on Facebook, with the introduction of the feed. Originally intended as a way to simplify updates from your friends, and hold your attention captive for longer. However somewhere along the line, the feed became more than that. Facebook now feels more confusing than my local department store, and my original reason for visiting (keeping up to date with friends & family) is quickly forgotten. The last time I checked Facebook, maybe 10% of my feed was updates from friends. The rest was a combination of ads, memes, and influencer marketing videos, leaving me doom scrolling endlessly. This isn't relegated to Facebook though, or even social media. So many websites are now designed to disorient you upon visiting, so that you start acting impulsively. This can even happen in a relatively benign way - who hasn't looked up something on Wikipedia and fell down a rabbit hole that ended looking at a list of animals awarded human credentials? It pops up in other areas as well, closely associated with several UX dark patterns. If you've tried to permanently delete your account from any major social network, you’ll know what I mean. It is utterly confusing to find and navigate to the page you need, and the site will desperately conjole you into doing something other than deleting your account. It's the same for trying to alter your insurance policy, cancel subscriptions, spend frequent flyer miles, and so on... I wonder where all this will end? There must be a point at which the friction gene...