Terry Godier, writing about the little red unread icons that are part of every app/service in the world:
PHANTOM OBLIGATION (noun): The guilt you feel for something no one asked you to do.
Great term that captures the cognitive and emotional weight of all of the little red dots clamoring for your attention like emergencies.
We’ve been laundering obligation. Each interface inherits legitimacy from the last, but the social contract underneath gets hollowed out.
The red dot on a game has the same visual weight as a text from your kid.
We kept the weight and dropped the reason.
Great essay (and nicely formatted as well).