Singular Purpose
This is my first post via the Posterous Android app. I'm not sure why, but I'm pretty sure I'll be more likely to post via this app than via email. I think this says something about the psychology of tools.
Posterous has supported posting via email from the beginning. It's easy. It works. It's one of the things that attracted me to the service, but I just don't use it. When I get the urge to post, I just don't think about using email. I think about using an app.
When I see a loose flat-head screw, I don't look for a penny. I look for a screwdriver. A penny would do the job just as well, but our brains tend to associate each tool or available resource with a single purpose. Coins are for buying stuff, screwdrivers are for turning screws. Email is for direct communication. Apps are for mass/social communication. At least that's how my brain sees it today.
We might be more productive if we could train our brains to see all of our available resources as multi-purpose. We'd spend less time looking for the right tool and more time building, fixing, and posting. For now, I'm happy there's an app that does exactly what I want it to do and I hope more of my favorite services roll out dead simple Android apps that do only one thing.
I'm reminded of Joseph Baird's Ignite preso on Bricolage. Check out
