Good design often removes friction. One tap instead of five. Automatic login. Instant checkout. A form that remembers your address. These improvements return time to people.
But “less friction” is not a universal law of good design.
Some actions deserve resistance.
A pause can be a feature
Sending money, deleting years of photographs, publishing a message to thousands of people or approving a high-risk change should not necessarily feel identical to liking a photo.
The small pause before an irreversible action creates a place for judgment to catch up with impulse.
Friction is bad when it blocks intention. It is useful when it improves intention.
This distinction matters more as AI agents and automation make actions easier to execute. A system that can perform twenty steps on your behalf may save enormous effort. It may also scale a mistaken assumption twenty times faster.
Design for consequences, not clicks
A mature interface should ask: how reversible is this action? How costly is a mistake? How easy is it to verify the result? The higher the consequence, the more reasonable it becomes to insert confirmation, preview, delay or human review.
Rule of thumb: remove friction from repetition; add thoughtful friction before irreversible, expensive or public actions.
Efficiency is not the number of seconds removed from every task. It is the amount of useful progress created with an acceptable number of mistakes.
Sometimes the fastest path includes one deliberate stop sign.
Stay curious.
Martin Lumen
