Do we bear no responsibility at all here for how we behave?
If all the infrastructure around you is intended for driving, it's tough to blame you for not walking instead.
Either software design has a real impact on how users behave and interact with a system or it doesn't. If you concede that design can impact a user's behavior, then it becomes a question of "how much" and the ethics of how to use that power. The irony is that by placing the burden on users to counteract the tendencies that are openly being encouraged by the software we absolve ourselves of our responsibility as designers, engineers, and architects to consider ethics in our work.
Do we bear no responsibility at all here for what we build?
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If all the infrastructure around you is intended for driving, it's tough to blame you for not walking instead.
Either software design has a real impact on how users behave and interact with a system or it doesn't. If you concede that design can impact a user's behavior, then it becomes a question of "how much" and the ethics of how to use that power. The irony is that by placing the burden on users to counteract the tendencies that are openly being encouraged by the software we absolve ourselves of our responsibility as designers, engineers, and architects to consider ethics in our work.
Do we bear no responsibility at all here for what we build?