JTBD
Most people really don’t want to use computers at all. They want to get a job done.
This has been said before, it’s not an original insight.
They’re hammers for informational nails. Or screwdrivers for informational screws. Again: for most people. Let’s assume most people aren’t born dying to be digital natives. People have things to do in the real world and deploy tools to do things.
Computers only got kind of interesting enough to have around to do more than just jobs since the iPhone. The iPhone (and its imitators) made computers more desirable to have around all the time, to accomplish more than just jobs, because they enabled so much spontaneous creation to occur anywhere, at any moment, whenever the idea strikes.
Just take a beat and appreciate the sugar rush of digital joy of taking a selfie at a meaningful moment.
The computers got so fun to have around because the best features enabled by hardware and software became increasingly frictionless over time. Creating images out of thin air is a common everyday activity performed by many grandmas. We have these incredible creative superpowers for living in the world, but getting work done for a non-creative professional is still just typing.
Most work on computers in 2023 is not that much different than work on computers in 2013 or even 2003. Text and image processing. Spreadsheets. Filling in forms and noting the results. Programming. Email. Sure we have slack now, but it’s still just touching letters for job things.