To gain insight into culture, one effective approach is to explore scholarly research on cultural topics. Recently, I found the academic work of Colin Koopman, a professor at the University of Oregon, to be particularly intriguing. Koopman delves into the genealogy of information, presenting captivating ideas.

He argues that much of design has to do with information, and the ways in which formats are employed to fasten information and speed up processes.

A compelling instance of a recently designed format that has inadvertently created a landscape of limitations, which could have been prevented, is articulated by its creator, Aza Raskin. Aza Raskin is the inventor of infinite scroll. Infinite scroll was invented to manage technological constraints in a way that allowed for a greater, by way of being more frictionless, engagement with information stacks as they are found on mobile phone info systems and information feeds. Aza gives an estimate in millions of years of lives lost to addictive scrolling enabled by the format.