
<Image
  publicId="newsletters/gestalt-design-principles-for-developers/cover"
  alt="Gestalt: Design principles every developer should know"
/>

Have you ever felt that you've seen a design that just makes sense to you, but you couldn't quite put your finger on why?

---

At some point, we are all faced with the challenge of creating a design that works intuitively _and_ looks great. When building a new interface, there's a temptation to lean heavily on obvious design elements like color or shape, or to use cards and borders to hold bits of UI. It makes sense: these are easily visible to person using your app.

What you may not realize is why these elements are so effective.

The people who use our designs are silently and subconsciously navigating questions like: _What's the most important thing on this page?_, _What's the relationship between these elements?_, and _What's the best way to navigate this interface?_

Enter **Gestalt** principles, a set of psychological concepts that go beyond aesthetics to form the foundation of how we see and interpret user interfaces. This is the bit of our mind that guides us to parse the whole picture by understanding the relationships between its parts.

The gist of understanding Gestalt principles for design is this: our brains are used to grouping things together based on a few basic patterns. These patterns are the foundation of how we perceive the world around us. By understanding these patterns, we can create designs that are easy to understand and navigate. Additionally, by _breaking_ these patterns, we can intentionally draw attention to specific elements in our designs.

## Some of the basic gestalt principles, in short:

- **Past Experience**: Our brains use our past experiences to interpret new information.
- **Proximity**: Elements that are close together are perceived as a group.
- **Similarity**: Elements that look similar are perceived as a group.
- **Figure and Ground**: Our brains separate elements into the background and the foreground.
- **Symmetry and Order**: Our brains perceive objects as symmetrical shapes that form around their center.

There are a few more principles, and they are all worth understanding. But for now, let's focus on how these principles can be applied to create better designs.

### Past Experience: the power of familiarity

In your mind, picture a web form used to collect someone's mailing address. You probably see a series of fields, each labeled with a specific piece of information: street address, city, state, and zip code. Where do each of these fields go? If you're like most people, you probably see the street address at the top, followed by the city, state, and zip code.

This is a perfect example of how past experience influences our perception of new information. We've seen this pattern so many times that we instantly recognize it and know how to interact with it.

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/gestalt-design-principles-for-developers/gestalt-layout"
  alt="Gestalt layout"
  caption="One of these should feel natural."
/>

On the left, the form is laid out in a way that feels familiar. On the right, complete unhinged madness. It's not _technically_ in violation of the geneva convention, but it's close.

### Proximity and Similarity: the power of grouping

Proximity and similarity are two of the most powerful tools in a designer's toolbox. They allow us to group elements together in a way that makes sense to the user. This is why one of the fundamental building blocks of most CSS design systems includes a grid system. It's a way to ensure that the space in your design is consistent and harmonious, guiding the user's eye and creating a sense of order and structure.

What does this mean? It means that the space around and between elements is just as important as the elements themselves. It's the difference between a cluttered, confusing design and a clean, intuitive one. Consistency is critical here: spacing between related elements should be consistent, and the space between unrelated elements should be distinct.

Take a look at this example:

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/gestalt-design-principles-for-developers/gestalt-proximity"
  alt="Gestalt proximity"
  caption="Without thinking too hard, you can probably tell which elements are related to each other."
/>

How many groups of rubber ducks do you see on each side?

If you're like most people, you probably see two groups in side A, and one group in side B.

With no other guide, your mind has grouped the ducks together for you. You can do the same thing when building interfaces: by using proximity and similarity, you can guide the user's eye and create a sense of hierarchy.

## Figure and Ground: the power of contrast

The Gestalt principle of figure and ground is all about contrast. It's the idea that our brains separate elements into the background and the foreground. This is a powerful tool for creating designs that are easy to understand and navigate. By using contrast, you can make elements stand out from their surroundings and draw attention to specific parts of your design.

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/gestalt-design-principles-for-developers/gestalt-figure-ground"
  alt="Gestalt figure and ground"
  caption="The figure and ground principle is a powerful tool for creating designs that are easy to understand and navigate."
/>

No doubt you can see the difference between side A and B this time. If this were a list of products in an ecommerce app, which one do you think would call the most attention to itself?

A slightly different display treatment turned one lucky ducky into a golden goose.

## Using color: A little can help, too much is a problem
Next, let's look at color. It's a powerful tool in any designer's arsenal, but it's also a double-edged sword. Relying too much on color can lead to designs that fail for a variety of reasons.

For instance, colorblind users may struggle to distinguish between different elements. As a reminder, **something like 10% of all men have color deficient vision** - more than you might think!

Conversely, too much use of color can make it difficult for people to understand what colors are meant to convey.

When I was working as a UX designer at Microsoft, it was common practice to design interfaces in black and white first. This was a way to ensure that the design was strong enough to stand on its own, without relying on color to convey meaning. Once the design was solid, we'd add color to enhance the experience, not define it. A truly successful design maintains its integrity even in black and white. This is a testament to the strength of its structure, spacing, and the overall harmony of elements - principles rooted deeply in Gestalt theory.

When color isn't the primary means of conveying information, it can be used to draw attention to specific elements. This is where the Gestalt principle of similarity comes into play. By using color to make certain elements stand out, you can guide the user's eye and create a sense of hierarchy.

As a last example, let's look at these two groups of rubber duckies again:

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/gestalt-design-principles-for-developers/gestalt-color"
  alt="Gestalt color"
  caption="Color can be used to draw attention to specific elements."
/>

If I told you that on **Side A**, every different color of duck has a specific meaning - would that be helpful? If you're like most people, you'd probably say no. There's just too many colors to keep track of.

Now take a look at **Side B**. What if I told you that different colors have a meaning here, and that there's a problem with one of the ducks...?

Exactly.

## Conclusion

Gestalt principles are a powerful tool for designers. They help us understand how people perceive and interpret the world around them, and they provide a framework for creating designs that are intuitive and easy to use. By understanding these principles, we can create designs that are not only visually appealing but also functional and effective.

I'm sure you've heard the old trope about how "breaking the rules" is the key to great design. In truth, it's hard to break the rules in a useful way if you don't understand them in the first place. Gestalt principles provide a solid foundation for understanding how people perceive and interpret the world around them, and they can help you create designs that are both visually appealing and easy to use.


---

## Further reading

- I keep a handy list of books devs interested in design called [The Designer's Reading List](https://hardcover.app/@irreverentmike/lists/the-designers-reading-list). It's worth a look if any of this has made your brain tingle.

- The Wikipedia entry for [Gestalt Psychology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology) is a fantastic jump-off point for more gestalt basics.

- File this one under miscellaneous tools for prototyping: I used Vercel's AI tool [v0.dev](https://v0.dev/) to generate the address forms in this article. It can be a really helpful way to _get started_ building an interface, but it's not a replacement for thoughtful design.

---


## Designers you should follow

This is a call to action for all of my developer friends: follow some designers! Design not just about making things pretty - it is primarily about making things work. Here's a few to get you started:

- [Dan Mall](https://danmall.com/) quite literally wrote the book on [Design that scaless](https://amzn.to/48hj7fc). He's currently working on Design System University, a course and community to help you build better design systems.

- [Carly Ayres](https://www.carlyayres.com/) is a designer who writes, currently working on the Conent and Editorial team at Figma. The perspective she brings to her work is fascinating and evocative (seriously, check out her website), and her writing is [nothing short of incredible](https://www.figma.com/blog/the-new-vernacular-of-work/).

- Matt Smith, aka [@whale](https://www.threads.net/@whale) on Threads, runs a design agency called Bunsen Studio. I appreciate his perspective on bringing design to the forefront of the development process, and his ability to distill some seriously complex concepts into digestible interfaces.

---

## One other thing: please vote!

It's an election year, and it is going to be a damn important one. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for here, but I am going to tell you to vote. If you're in the US, you can find out how to register and vote at [Vote.org](https://vote.org). We're in the midst of primary season, and it's a great time to get involved in the process.

If you're not in the US, I encourage you to get involved in your local politics. It's important, and it's a great way to make a difference in your community.




Gestalt: Design principles every developer should know


<Image
  publicId="newsletters/creators-startups-january-pivot/cover"
  alt="Why your favorite apps and creators all pivot in January"
/>



There have been _lots_ of interesting announcements from creators and startups this month. Many apps and services that once felt like they were here to stay are now shutting down. Similarly, many creators are announcing big changes to their strategy, or even stepping down from their roles entirely.

Seems like it's all happening at once, right? Well, in a sense -- it is. And there are a few reasons why that might be the case:

- For **creators**, December and January are the slowest months of the year. Advertisers' budgets are spent, and people are spending time with their families. As a result, many creators use this time to reflect on the past year, and plan for the next.
- For **startups**, the new year is often tied to intense budgeting and planning. The new year is a time when they need to show their investors that they're on track to meet their goals. If they're not, they may need to pivot, or even shut down.

Have you felt it? I've certainly seen a good number of surprising announcements. Here's an incomplete list of companies and creators who have announced big changes since the start of the new year:

### Companies making big changes
- A few days ago, Artifact, the news aggregator app created by the founders of Instagram, shared that they're [shutting down](https://medium.com/artifact-news/shutting-down-artifact-1e70de46d419) their services, after failing to find product-market fit.
- [Mint](https://www.mint.com), the personal finance app, is shutting down completely. Their orphaned users have been desperately searching for alternatives.
- [Prism Bills & Money](https://prism.com), a finance app used for automating bill payments, is also shutting down.

### Creators

- **Matpat**, Host of the YouTube channel _The Game Theorists_ [announced he's stepping down as the face of the channel](https://youtu.be/8R1_TqU68yo?si=1PQEWufTl_letIcO). TGT has **18.7M subscribers** on YouTube.
- **Tom Scott** posted a video explaining that after 10 years of videos every week, he's [taking a break](https://youtu.be/7DKv5H5Frt0?si=2W-72NhfIviI0TI5) for an undetermined amount of time. Tom has **6.4M subscribers** on YouTube.


### Sort of both, and kind of neither

You may have seen recently that Substack is bleeding creators left and right over their [spineless content moderation policy decisions](https://mashable.com/article/why-are-people-leaving-substack-content-moderation-controversy) (or lack thereof). Newsletter creators are jumping ship to other platforms left and right.

[Patreon](https://news.patreon.com/articles/patreon-reimagined) announced a major change to their business model, which will affect creators and patrons alike. Patreon has been the place where fans can support creators they love, by pledging a monthly amount to them. Patreon takes a cut of the pledge (though a much smaller cut than YouTube might, for example), and the rest goes to the creator.

With their new pivot, they are now hoping to become the place where fans can go to see what creators are making without being subject to _the algorithm._ In short, Patreon itself is trying to become a social network.

Will it work? Who knows. But it's a big change -- and while this announcement happened back in October, Patreon has been steadily rolling out changes to align with their new vision since then.

## These changes create opportunities

This, dear reader, is where you come in - as the market shifts with these changes, there are opportunities for you to make your mark. If you're looking for inspiration, here are a few examples:

- Derek Gaston ([@Friedmud on Threads](https://threads.net/@friedmud)), is an indiehacker who has been building a personal finance app called [Splurge Budget](https://splurgebudget.com/). He's been building out in the open and sharing his progress and learnings on Threads.

- Developer-focused email platform Resend just announced feature called [Broadcasts](https://resend.com/blog/send-marketing-emails-with-resend-broadcasts), which suddenly allows them to compete with Existing newsletter platforms and email marketing tools like Mailchimp and ConvertKit. I'm planning to give Resend's newsletter feature a shot - and hopefully livestream my experience building with it on my YouTube Channel [@mikebifulco](https://youtube.com/@mikebifulco).

As ever, if you've been working on building something, now is the time to step on the gas, particularly if you're building something that suddenly fills a void which once felt permanent. Use the momentum of these changes to your advantage, and find places where you can make your mark.

---

Here's some things I've worked on recently:

- We released a fresh interview over at APIs You Won't Hate - my cofounder Phil spoke with Darrel Miller and Vincent Biret from Microsoft about [🎙️ Kiota, Microsoft's product for manging an API with 20,000 endpoints](https://apisyouwonthate.com/podcast/microsoft-kiota-graph-api-darrel-miller-vincent-biret/)
- We also released a series of articles about [Low Code and No-Code APIs](https://apisyouwonthate.com/newsletter/low-code-no-code-apis/). [Getting devs to adopt low code tools](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/devs-its-okay-to-use-no-code-tools) is a topic near and dear to my heart, and it's great to see API tools moving into this world.
- I also started recording mini-podcasts of some Tiny Improvements newsletters. If, paradoxically, you've read this far but you'd _also_ prefer to hear me read this newsletter to you, you can listen and subscribe to here:[Tiny Improvements (the podcast)](https://tinyimprovements.transistor.fm/)


Why your favorite apps and creators all pivot in January


Have you ever come across a brand whose name or visual design didn't seem to match the product? Maybe a company with a playful, colorful logo that sells something serious and professional, or a brand with a dull and generic name that markets a trendy and innovative product?

These mismatches carve out spots in our mind, but... why did they choose that name? Why does their logo look like that? What were they thinking?

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/naming-your-product-kiki-bouba/cover"
  alt="Kiki and Bouba"
  caption="One of these shapes is called Kiki, and the other is called Bouba. Can you guess which is which?"
/>

Humans have a natural tendency to associate certain shapes and sounds with specific meanings. This phenomenon is known as the Bouba/kiki effect, which refers to the fact that most people associate the round, curvy shape of the word "bouba" with a soft, gentle object, and the sharp, jagged shape of the word "kiki" with a hard, spiky object. This effect is not limited to word-sounds, but also applies to visual cues, such as colors, fonts, and images.

Sounds crazy, no? This was the conclusion of a study conducted by Wolfgang Köhler in 1929 - who asked people to to associate nonsense words like [Kiki and Bouba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect) to round or soft shapes. Research concluded that this phenomenon was repeatable, and is called **sound symbolism**. This ability was once essential for survival, as it allows us to quickly identify and avoid dangerous objects.

> **tl;dr: pointy thing scary, round thing soft.**

Cultural expectations shape our perceptions of what certain things should be branded. For instance, we expect a luxury car brand to have a sophisticated and elegant name, a fast-food chain to have a short and catchy name, and a children's toy brand to have a fun and playful name. These expectations are not absolute, but they provide a useful framework for designing and naming brands that resonate with their target audiences.

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## It's not a hard and fast rule

Sometimes, defying these expectations can be a smart strategy for creating a unique and memorable product or brand. Enter Liquid Death, a company that sells one of the most mundane products imaginable, canned water. Where 99% of companies in the world take the same beige market strategy for _canned water_, Liquid Death's approach is anything but dull. The company's name, logo, and packaging are edgy, irreverent (hi), and unexpected, with an unhinged aesthetic that appeals to a young, rebellious audience.

Their slogan is damn memorable, too: **Murder your thirst**.

This brand strategy allows Liquid Death to stand out from other water By challenging the conventions of what bottled water should look and sound like, Liquid Death has become an outright success, with a loyal following and a rapidly growing business.

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/naming-your-product-kiki-bouba/liquid-death"
  alt="screenshot of liquid death's instagram feed"
  caption="Liquid death's instagram feed does NOT look like a typical water brand."
/>

So, what can we learn from this? When designing a brand, it's important to consider the industry and cultural expectations, but also to be willing to take risks and stand out from the crowd. By understanding the Bouba/kiki effect and using it to your advantage, you can create a visual and linguistic identity that resonates with your audience and sets you apart from the competition.

Who knows, you might just create the next Liquid Death.

## Obliterate your curiosity

- 👨‍🚀 [Creating a "similar posts" component in Astro](https://www.joshfinnie.com/blog/creating-a-similar-posts-component-in-astrojs/). My pal Josh Finnie put together a super tidy tutorial for building a "similar posts" component in Astro. It's a great example of how Astro's simplicity-first approach makes it easy to build components.
- 🗺️ [What3Words](https://what3words.com/clip.apples.leap) is a great example of a memorable product built by taking a fundamentally different approach to something we're all familiar with. The company's name is a reference to the fact that their service labels each location on Earth with a 3-word address. The words are chosen to be easy to remember, and are not associated with any particular meaning. For example, the most cursed place I've ever been to is `///hacker.plausible.bookshelf`.
- 🎥 Youtube channel LearnVue did a great [video about regexp.dev](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_k198mrGL8), the library returns the humanity to regular expressions. It's a great example of how a simple, well-designed API can make a complex topic more accessible to a wider audience.

## Blast your brain with these links

...or, put another way - here's some of the things from my corner of the internet this week

- A new [APIs You Won't Hate Podcast](https://share.transistor.fm/s/494ca018) with Anton Zagrebelny from [Stigg](https://stigg.io). We had a great discussion about pricing strategy and structures for SaaS products, and the API that Stigg provides to make it easier for developers to experiment.
- I had the opportunity to interview [Matt Biilmann from Netlify on Software Engineering Daily](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2023/03/02/netlify/). We got into some of Netlify's announcements from the end of last year, and the company's approach to product development, and the future of the web.
- A new article from [Craftwork: 8 Questions to Help Select Paint Colors](https://craftwork.com/articles/questions-to-help-select-paint-colors). In a world with too many colors to choose from, it's no surprise that picking a color for your bathroom can be a crippling experience. We can help.


Why Liquid Death's branding is murderously effective


Hi there,

I hope you're well.

This week we remember the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., just days before the inauguration of America's 46th President, Joe Biden. As the inauguration draws nearer, I hope you're able to take some time to sit with the importance of this week in the context of history, of the past four years, the past year, and within the context of your own life.

I'll leave you with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that a friend shared:

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

This is the time to step up and do your part. I'm proud of you for the hard work you put in, and I understand if you feel tattered and exhausted from the past year. Do what you can to stand up for the things you believe in, and use your voice and your actions to amplify the people that are making this world a better place.

✊ We're all in this together.

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/four-years-already/cover"
  alt="photo of an early morning fog over a hiking trail on the side of a hill"
  caption="Eyes on the horizon this week. Photo from unsplash."
/>

## This stuff has been living in my brain rent free...

- ⏲️ **Temporal illusions** are like optical illusions... but for time. (Note: Very 2019 metaphor incoming) Ever wonder why a delay at the airport on your way to vacation (I know, I know) feels so damn long? [Check out this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHL9GP_B30E) from YouTube channel Vsauce for a stretchy explanation of our trippy perception of time.
- 💃 About a week ago, the **Great Gatsby lost copyright protection in the US** (the life of the author plus 70 years). That means it is now in the public domain, and we may start seeing some interesting works based on Gatsby.. What an appropriate time for it, too! Check out this really cool [Graphic Novel version of The Great Gatsby](https://www.woodmanmaynard.com/the-great-gatsby-graphic-novel), by K. Woodman-Maynard.
- 🤙 If you're an American, [5Calls.org](https://5calls.org/) is a super easy way for you make 5 quick calls to people who represent you in congress. Tell them you're a constituent, what city you live in, and a brief message about what you support. For example: "Hey, this is Mike, a citizen from Charlotte, and I'm calling to voice support for removing president Trump from office." That's all it takes!
- 🎵 Ever wonder what goes into **designing a font for musicians** to use? Did you know that sheet music used to be freaking hand engraved?! Honestly, neither did I! That didn't stop me from going deep on this fantastic [video from Tantacrul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGo4PJd1lng) about his work on the matter. Get in there and learn a bit - it's fascinating, even if you're not a musician.
- 🏞️ In green-ness news, the city of Paris has approved plans to **turn the iconic Champs-Élysées into a giant city park**. I have fond memories of meandering the Champs with two dear friends during a work trip in 2016. Freeing that area of car traffic will be absolutely transcendent. Check out this [article from The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/10/paris-approves-plan-to-turn-champs-elysees-into-extraordinary-garden-anne-hidalgo) discussing the project.

If you enjoy my musings, I'd love it if you'd share _Tiny Improvements_ with a friend. Feel free to forward this to them, or shuttle them directly over to [newsletter signup on my website](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter). Thanks in advance - it means the world.

Do yourself a favor and take an extra moment to be kind to yourself this week. While you're at it, be excellent to each other.

<hr />

Talk soon!

Mike


Has it been four years already?


Hey there,

I hope you're well.

Autumn has flown by at a crawl this year. I'm doing my best to focus on the little glimmers of light shining through for me right now, and I hope you can do the same.

Speaking of which, here it is - a big change for me! I recently started a new job at Google as a Developer Advocate for Google Assistant. You know the one - “hey google, what's the weather?” - I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to work on such a wildly cool product. The interview process was intimidating, long, and challenging, but I did it! To say I'm standing on the shoulders of giants is an understatement. (I'll also be adding a disclaimer to my newsletters from here in: the things I discuss here are my own thoughts and opinions, and not those of my employer.)

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/on-seasonal-change-open-source-carbon-offsets/cover"
  alt="Photo of my black cat Jet, curled up in a fall wreath on top of a table"
  caption="This is a picture I took recently of my cat Jet, who has fallen in love with a wreath we pulled out for winter decoration."
/>

## The brain is a strange place

Cognitive Psychology is the study of attention, perception, creativity, and other mental functions. Great software design takes advantage of cognitive biases to anticipate your behavior. For example, the [framing effect](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_effect_(psychology)>) is when people are able to draw two distinct conclusions from the same set of data, depending on how it's presented. Forex: I have 200 unread emails in my inbox. Should I panic? Nah, they're marked "To Do" -- I'll get to it later.

## Working in Public (OSS!)

If you're interested in Open Source Software, you should check out the book Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software, by Nadia Eghbal (link). I just finished reading through it with a book club I was invited to, and I enjoyed the read. I plan on [publishing my book notes to my website soon](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/working-in-public), as well.

## Kicking around in the old domepiece

These are a few of the things I've found on the web lately. I thought you might benefit from them as well:

- 🇪🇸 I've been brushing up on my Spanish. It's a relaxing couple-minute ritual in my day. I enjoy it so much that I've been sprinkling in some Japanese here and there, too! I've been using Duolingo's free plan - my referral link is [here](https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKSRQUQARVC6SFNU) if you want to give it a shot.
- 👨‍🏫 How much do online courses make? Have you ever taken a course online, or thought about making one yourself as a side hustle? [This is a tool](https://revenue.sixfigureinstructor.com/) that lets you peruse the aggregate statistics of various course topics across Udemy. Did you know that on average, courses on Next.js make $40/day? Pretty wild!
- 🌳 Planting trees can make a difference. In the past, I've mentioned my love for [Ecologi](https://ecologi.com/irreverentmike?r=5d386c6667bad5001010ffae) (that's a referral link), which was previously called offset.earth. I'm excited to share that my good friend Phil Sturgeon has embarked on a carbon offsetting project of his own - he's on a mission to plant a forest of trees on farmland near his home in the UK this winter. Check out his work at [protect.earth](https://www.protect.earth/) , and donate if you're able!

Thanks for reading Tiny Improvements. If you've got any feedback, my inbox is always open: [hello@mikebifulco.com](mailto:hello@mikebifulco.com). If you've found this useful, I would love it if you shared it with a friend!

Be excellent to each other - talk soon.

- Mike

_Disclaimer: Tiny Improvements are my own thoughts an opinions, and not necessarily those of my employer._


On seasonal change, open source, and carbon offsets


## The Milgram Experiment

In 1961, a Yale University researcher named Stanley Milgram conducted a series of experiments as a part of his research on behavioral psychology. The goal of the experiment was to test participants' tendency to obey authority figures when under pressure.

The experiment was conducted on 40 volunteers -- all men between the ages of 20 and 50, from a variety of education and economic backgrounds.

Milgram later summarized findings from the experiment in an essay titled "The Perils of Obedience." The results were extremely unexpected.

### The Experiment: Setup

Each study was guided by an _Experimenter_ dressed in a lab coat, who explained to participants that they'd be doing a "scientific study on memory and learning." When they arrived, participants were paired with an actor who they were _told_ was another participant in the study.

The actor was secretly working with the researcher, and during the experiment was instructed to play the role of a _Learner_.

The volunteer participant was given the role of _Teacher_. The Experimenter then explained that the study would involve the Teacher asking the Learner a series of questions. For each incorrect answer, the Teacher would be asked to hit a button which would administer an electric shock to the Learner. Subsequent incorrect answers would result in a shock of increasing intensity, from 15V to 450V.

The Learner was strapped into a device that looked like an electric chair, and then separated from the Teacher so that they could not see one-another.

<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/experiment-setup"
  alt="Diagram of the setup used for the Milgram Experiment, with the Experimenter and Teacher on one side of a wall, and the Learner on the other."
  caption="Credit: diagram of the Milgram experiment from Wikipedia"
/>

In reality, there were no shocks being administered, but this was unknown to the study participant playing the role of the Teacher. The actor playing the role of the Learner was instructed to pretend to be in pain, and recordings of increasingly alarming cries of pain were played when shocks were administered.

When the highest shock level was reached, the Learner fell completely silent.

During the experiment, if the Teacher showed hesitation to continue, the Experimenter gave them a series of specific instructions:

1. Please go on.
1. The experiment requires that you continue.
1. It is _absolutely essential_ that you continue.
1. You have no other choice; you _must_ go on.

These "prods" were given in order, and the second was only given if the Teacher refused to continue after the first (and so on).

The experiment was halted when the Teacher refused to continue despite all four prods, or when the Teacher reached the highest shock level three times in a row.

<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/experiment-photos"
  alt="Photos from the original Milgram experiment, credit Stanley Milgram."
  caption="Photos from the original Milgram experiment, credit Stanley Milgram"
/>

### What would you do?

Let's take a minute to pause here - put yourself in the shoes of the Teacher. You're in a lab, and you're told that you're taking part in a study on learning and memory. Everything you're seeing and hearing seems to be controlled, official, and legitimate.

Do you think you would continue to administer shocks to the Learner, even when they were clearly in pain?

What do you think the average person would do?

<br />
<Colophon />

### The Experiment: Results

As you might expect, every participant in the study indicated a desire to stop the experiment at least once. Many were visibly upset by the experience, and despite this, carried on following the Experimenter's instructions.

Before conducting the experiment, researchers surveyed a cohort of students and fellow researchers, to get a sense of what they thought the average person would do. In aggregate, they estimated that 1.2% of people would continue the experiment through the full 450V shock.

<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/predicted-results"
  alt="Predicted Results: 1.8% complete the full series of shocks, 98.2% refuse to continue at some point"
  caption="Surveys predicted that very few participants would carry out the full series of shocks"
/>

<br />

However, the actual results of the experiment revealed a surprising truth about human behavior:

<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/actual-results"
  alt="Actual Results: 59.1% completed the full series of shocks, 40.9% refused to continue at some point"
  caption="The experimental results were much more grim."
/>

Very nearly 60% of participants carried out the full series of shocks, carrying the study to its conclusion -- even when the Learner sounded like they were clearly in pain, and until they fell silent.

Recreations of this experiment have produced similar results, [as recently as 2009](https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2008/12/replicating-milgram).

## Obedience and the Perils of Twitter

I can't help but draw a connection between the Milgram experiment and the current state of Twitter since its acquisition by Elon Musk. Twitter has turned into a public experiment, testing our willingness to obey rules set by an authority figure, despite many less damaging alternatives.

Since Elon purchased the company, we've seen the voltage knob get turned up steadily and swiftly.

Under Musk's leadership, Twitter's employee base has been slashed from 7,500 to approximately 2,000, in an attempt to make the company profitable. It appears that Musk may be trying to avoid paying severance to these now-former employees. There are already [several lawsuits pending](https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-says-lawsuit-over-layoffs-lacks-merit-has-delayed-severance-pay-2022-11-22/) against the company.

A recent tweet from Musk included a poll which resulted in the reinstatement of former (and twice-impeached) president Trump's account.

For me, this was the final straw.

<Tweet align="center" tweetLink="irreverentmike/status/1594455660040572928" />

Since then, another poll from Musk has resulted in an abhorrent policy change: virtually all accounts that were previously suspended for violating Twitter's rules will be reinstated.

<Tweet align="center" tweetLink="elonmusk/status/1595473875847942146" />

Pandora's box is open, and the monsters are flooding in. Twitter has already seen a spike in hate speech, harassment, and abuse. Without significant and drastic changes in moderation, it will become a breeding ground for countless nightmares and real-world dangers. This will worsen the echo chamber effect for far-right conspiracy theorists, like those who participated in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.

This is a very real, very observable truth: racists, abusers, and other dangerous people are being given "amnesty" to come back the platform.

Legions of [advertisers have pulled their ad spend](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139180002/twitter-loses-50-top-advertisers-elon-musk) from Twitter as a result of Musk's takeover. I've seen many individuals abandon their Twitter accounts in the wake of these changes, moving to Mastodon or LinkedIn.

## We must build bridges

Why are so many people still active on Twitter, despite the steady stream of bad news? I can think of at least a few things:

### Career

Some have built a career around their Twitter presence and following. Heck, my personal Twitter account was a big part of my job [until recently](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/leaving-stripe-going-viral) - it's certainly much easier for me to abandon ship now that my job no longer relies on Twitter for outreach.

I can understand a deep hesitancy to abandon a platform that has been so central to your life, especially without a clear "winner" as an alternative. Embracing a new platform like Mastodon requires starting from zero. It can be exhausting to build a new following, and it's hard to know if you'll ever reach the same level of engagement.

### Community Support

There are incredible communites on Twitter like `#BlackTechTwitter`, which has grown to be a critical resource for many people of color in tech. The logistics of getting hundreds-of-thousands of people to move to a new platform is staggering. The LA times recently published [an interview](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-11-07/black-twitter-influencers-others-debate-leaving-twitter) with Pariss Chandler, the founder of [Black Tech Pipeline](https://blacktechpipeline.com/) and creator of the `#BlackTechTwitter` hashtag, discussing the challenges associated with leaving the platform.

It is encumbent on all of us to provide space and time for communities like these to find a new home. Moreover, it's critical that the new homes we create are _at least as valuable_ as Twitter was at its peak. There is a complex cost-benefit analysis for every community member to consider, and we must be mindful of that.

### News and Information

Some use Twitter as a way to keep up with relevant news in their industry. This feels like a solvable problem to me, but it faces a challenge of momentum. Until enough industry experts are sharing news elsewhere, these people will remain on twitter out of habit and convenience.

So -- if you find yourself using twitter and another platform for news, consider sharing useful information on the other platform. It's a small step, but it can make a big difference.

### Lack of social pressure

When it came down to it, even I was hesitating to leave twitter without _seeing someone else do it_ first.

In my first job after undergrad, I had a boss who frequently used the phrase "You are far more influential than you think". Those have proven to be very wise words.

Social pressure will be a necessary component of the transition away from a Twitter run by Elon Musk. I'm hopeful that we'll see more people leave the platform, and that the momentum will build. If and when you decide to consider greener pastures, use your influence and make it known to your community.

## Learning from the Milgram Experiment

Years after the experiment was complete, in his book _Obedience to Authority,_ Stanley Milgram ruminated the results of his now-infamous experiment:

> Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively **few people have the resources needed to resist authority.**

This is not the time to be complacent. We must build a bridge to a better future, and we must do it together.

## If not now, when?

Friends, it's time to start leaving Twitter. Move your news and discussions elsewhere, and bring your people with you. When you're ready, shutter your accounts, delete the app, and move on. I know it's hard, but it's time. Every moment we spend on Twitter is feeding legitimacy to a platform that is enabling abusers, endangering global politics, and destroying the fabric of our society.

Do not allow the voltage to rise by relying on Twitter as your primary social platform.

Perhaps most importantly, make it clear to your friends and neighbors from marginalized groups that their voices are valuable, and welcomed on the platforms you move to.

Bring your voice and your conversations elsewhere, and send the message that with its current leadership, Twitter is no longer a place for you.

<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/experiment-1"
  alt=""
/>
<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/experiment-2"
  alt=""
/>
<Image
  publicId="posts/twitter-and-the-perils-of-obedience/experiment-3"
  alt=""
/>

<br />
<Colophon />

## Footnote: on the ethics of the Milgram Experiment

It's important to note that in the years since Milgram Experiment was conducted, it has been criticized for its methodology. [Research Ethics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research#Research_ethics) is a complex and nuanced topic, and I don't believe that the experiment would be approved by modern ethics boards in its original form. However, I believe that the results of the experiment are still relevant, and that the experiment itself is still a valuable tool for understanding human behavior.

The experiment _has_ been recreated in a more ethical manner, with the same results. [This article](https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2008/12/replicating-milgram) from the American Psychological Association summarizes the results of a 2008 replication of the experiment, which was conducted by a team of researchers at Yale University. In this version of the study, participants were screened to ensure that they were not at risk of being harmed by the experiment, and were given the option to withdraw from the study at any time. The maximum simulated voltage level for the Learner was decreased to 150V, and a test shock was given to participants at 15V, as compared to 45V in Milgram's original study.

The results of the 2009 study were the similar to the original experiment.

## References

Information about the Milgram experiment can be found from the following resources:

- [APA Psych Net - Behavioral Study of obedience.](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1964-03472-001)
- [Obedience to Authority](https://hardcover.app/books/obedience-to-authority) by Stanley Milgram
- [Internet archive - Obedience to authority: an experimental view](https://archive.org/details/obedien_mil_1974_00_3145)
- [Wikipedia entry for the Milgram experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment)
- [APA - Replicating Milgram: Researcher Finds Most Will Administer Shocks to Others When Prodded by ‘Authority Figure’](https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2008/12/replicating-milgram)
- [APA - Replicating Milgram (pdf)](https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-64-1-1.pdf)

### More perspective on leaving twitter

In my research for this post, I came across a few other articles about leaving Twitter, and I wanted to share them here:

- [Black Twitter influencers, other thought leaders debate leaving Twitter. But for what?](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-11-07/black-twitter-influencers-others-debate-leaving-twitter) Alexandra Olson and Maryclaire Dale, LA Times via AP
- [“A double-edged sword”: 4 women of color on Elon’s Twitter takeover](https://www.mic.com/impact/elon-musk-twitter-women-leaving)
- [Why I Quit Elon Musk's Twitter](https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-i-quit-elon-musks-twitter) by Jelani Cobb, New Yorker

<small>

_Note: The photo used for the cover of this article is from [john elfes](https://unsplash.com/@johnelfes?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)_

</small>


#psychology: 6 posts tagged

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