spot

I’m only three days into my write-something-everyday-in-November challenge and I’m already scraping the bottom of a barrel that was never filled to begin with.

In an unfortunate coincidence, both my laptop and phone have defective pixels. My phone has a permanent thin waterfall of white pixels cascading down the vertical axis of the AMOLED display. My laptop features a black spot of dead pixels in the upper left corner of the display and it has been growing every day. At the time of this writing, these are more of a source of visual annoyance that just blend into the periphery after a while. But it has me thinking about reliance.

We like comfort, familiarity, stability, routine (except when it’s about chores). Oftentimes we’re unaware of how much we rely on things because we get used to them being just a part of our everyday reality. The regular commuting routes you take; the local café that already knows your dietary restrictions and preferences; the laptop display that reliably renders pixels for your favourite browser’s navigation buttons.

When things just work, we rarely think about them until something disrupts that. A road gets shut down so now you have to take an even longer route home; the café goes out of business; your laptop gets interested in astrophysics and starts rendering black holes; your favourite browser has added AI chat.

Of course these dead pixels aren’t a big deal. Just get an external monitor or maybe even another laptop. But other things I currently rely on wouldn’t have easy solutions if something disruptive befalls them — job, living spaces, physical health and abilities. Something to think about going forward.

In the meantime, as the void grows and eventually renders the screen unusable, I’ll continue to use it until crossing the event horizon forces a reaction.

—josh