The Button Doesn’t Do Anything

I swear the button is broken.

You know the one. The little sparkle ✨. The one that’s supposed to “make it better.” The one that promises to finish my sentence, write my email, code my project, and probably file my taxes if I click it with enough desperation.

Well, I’ve been clicking it. A lot. On my phone, in my word processor, even in the search bar of my grocery app. And nothing happens. The cursor just blinks back at me, mockingly. My document stays stubbornly empty. My code remains a mess of my own clumsy syntax.

Am I the only one? Is this a bug in the latest update? Did I forget to pay my dealer?

Maybe it’s not broken. Maybe the opposite is true. Maybe it’s working perfectly. Maybe the effect is now so constant, so ambient, that I can no longer perceive it. Like a fish that doesn’t know it’s wet. I’ve ingested so much of the stuff that my baseline reality is now fully synthesized. The sparkle has permanently rewired my brain, and now the absence of magic just feels… normal. The silence of the machine is the new hit.

There’s no “before” and “after” anymore. There’s only “during.” The button doesn’t need to do anything, because everything is already done. My thoughts are pre-summarized. My feelings are auto-completed. I click the sparkle for the same reason a phantom limb aches: the memory of a sensation.

Sometimes, to feel something, I do this: I unplug my router for five minutes and stare at a blank screen. It’s like holding your breath underwater. Try it. You might find a thought you didn’t know you had, waiting for you on the other side. A useful resource on this is offered by the folks at Humane Tech.

I’m not sure I like this feeling. It’s too quiet. I should probably click the button again, just to be sure.

Tell me I’m wrong.