Friction as Gift
We’ve been trained to see friction as failure.
The app that loads slowly. The checkout process with too many steps. The conversation that requires explanation rather than immediate understanding.
Optimize. Streamline. Remove barriers.
But here’s what’s curious: human flourishing often requires friction.
Virtue develops through difficulty, not ease. You don’t cultivate patience by having everything immediately. You don’t develop courage by avoiding discomfort. You don’t learn wisdom by consuming pre-digested answers.
Relationships deepen through misunderstanding-then-clarity, not through algorithmic compatibility matching. Meaning emerges from wrestling with what resists easy resolution.
The algorithm removes friction because friction reduces engagement. But engagement isn’t flourishing.
Some things should be difficult. Some decisions should require thought. Some relationships should demand effort.
Friction—when rightly ordered—is precisely what transforms consumption into formation.
So perhaps the question isn’t “How do we remove all friction?” but rather “Which frictions are worth preserving?”