2024 03 19

Damaged car situation somewhere in Chicago. September, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

It used to be things were messy. These days, everything is clean, sleek and easy! Of course, this isn’t the case, we’ve just become better at hiding the messy bits behind a fascade.

The Disneyfication of America, if you will. Apple is a shining example. PCs used to be complicated until Apple made it easy. All the system files and folders are hidden behind a digital curtain which you can only peek behind if you know the secret access door. We don’t trust you with those files. It’s plug and play! Granted, this approach makes a lot of sense and has been wildly successful. It is the better way—until it’s not. Until your system has crashed and you now don’t know a thing about it and are therefore reliant on the Genius Bar to come to your rescue and free your important business documents from digital purgatory.

Today, I walked to work after being unable to charge my electric vehicle for reasons unknown. File a service request and move on. It’s a fun car, though! Not a button in sight!

Arriving at work, I go to turn on some music but my fancy wireless speakers don’t work because the Sonos app can’t update and is stuck in a doom loop of saying it needs to update, followed by a failed update with no further information. File a service request and head to the daily photo blog to vent about it.

In a way, it’s a nice reminder that while things may appear orderly and structured, there’s still a mess behind the scenes.

Don’t becomes fully dependent on the Genius Bar. Stay messy.

-Clayton