A Response

The essay below is a response to an article titled, Are Neighborhood Watch Apps Making Us Safer? To read the original article, please click here.

Reading or watching the news, I am left with the impression that we live in a golden age of technology with advancements made every day. There always seems to be some new app, service, or piece of hardware on the market intended to make our lives easier and help us connect with the people and things that matter most. Without almost any exception, these advances occur without consideration of the unintended consequences.

In my lifetime, I have experienced the emergence of social media. I have also witnessed these tools become gathering places for racist, xenophobic, and/or homophobic ideas. Horrified, I have watched as disinformation, lies, and conspiracies spread like wildfire on these sites.

In my lifetime, I have seen the service economy explode via food delivery, rideshare, and task-centered work without consideration of a living wage and labor protections.

In pursuit of increasing the bottom line, we are now living through an economic shift. For jobs lost to automation, I fear we are merely standing on the starting line.

Since the birth of the industrial revolution, we have slowly created an environment that is becoming unlivable. Why? Ramifications be damned. Our lives must be easier.

Ultimately, when considering the usage of tools, human beings are poor predictors. We assume the best of intentions. We assume social media sites will bring people closer together. We assume services will make people’s lives easier. We assume hardware will free people from time-consuming tasks. This is all done with little thought given to those with less than the best of intentions.

On the surface, an app meant to keep people safe seems like a great idea. An app meant to bring neighbors together does too. Doorbell cameras adding an extra layer of security and peace of mind to homeowners and renters is a brilliant idea on paper. Reading this article once again proves how we design technology is backward.

Humans will misuse technology. Let’s begin the design process with this assumption. Crime apps will create vigilantism, voyeurism, and it will bring about profiling. It will lead to novel forms of redlining and separation.

Neighborhood apps will breed hatred of the homeless and suspicion of others. Hackers will take advantage of doorbell cameras. This same tool will lead to incidents where people overreact. If we design these products assuming the worst, we can create safeguards from the beginning. Instead of technology companies endlessly trying to catch up with how their user base honestly interacts with a product, these companies can come out of the gate ready for whatever comes their way.

In 2017, my partner and I moved from Seattle to Los Angeles. The first piece of mail I received was from the app Next Door. The postcard welcomed me to my new home and invited me to connect with my new neighbors. On paper, this seemed like a great idea. We moved to LA without an extensive support network. This app promised connection. From there, maybe we could forge genuine friendships. The idea of a 21st century neighborhood watch program was also enticing.

In a couple of days, I realized my wishes for the app may have been the intention, but that was not the way it was being used. All day and night long, my phone pushed notifications about crime in my area, people to be aware of when walking around, and the shamefulness of homelessness. Often, I found myself disgusted by what I was reading. Daily, I read things that enraged me; posts that were racist, classist, dangerous, and unforgivable.

I deleted the app, convinced someone would bring harm to a homeless encampment that had gathered under the shade of trees in a local park.

Deleting the app felt freeing. Avoiding the police scanner allowed me to fall in love with my city. Never purchasing a doorbell camera left me trusting of my neighbors. Perhaps it also left me oblivious. Perhaps serious concerns about issues in the neighborhood were unbeknownst to me. Maybe I was lucky. My neighbors might have escaped dangerous situations because of the app. Maybe I was tempting fate by avoiding an app meant to improve my life. All of this can be true. I also know ignorance is bliss. Here, ignorance left me with a better impression of a city I love and miss dearly. If I continued to allow myself to be inundated with nothing but the negative, I am positive that impression would be drastically different.

Be good to each other,

Nathan