Likely Normal

Don’t you love that magical time when developers take something that works perfectly fine and say, “You know what this needs? A complete overhaul that nobody asked for!” One day, you’re happily using an app, muscle memory guiding your fingers effortlessly. The next? BAM! Everything’s different. The “Save” button is now a floppy disk icon (because obviously today’s users have deep emotional connections to 90s storage devices). The menu you’ve used for years has been relocated to a cryptic hamburger icon inside a three-dot dropdown nested under a sideways swipe gesture. And don’t even get me started on the color scheme—somewhere, a designer is high-fiving their team because Millennial Teal is so fresh.

This chaos stems from the eternal struggle companies face: innovate or stagnate. If they don’t constantly tweak their products, users might drift away to something shinier. But if they change too much, those same users will revolt like a mob whose favorite coffee shop replaced the baristas with robots. It’s a lose-lose scenario. The Product Manager cries, “We need to stay relevant! Let’s modernize the UI!” The Developer hesitates: “But people like it the way it is.” The Product Manager, undeterred, declares: “Exactly. That’s why we must destroy it.” And so, in the name of progress, features are shuffled like a deck of cards in the hands of a caffeinated magician. Dark mode becomes “Midnight Shadow Fusion,” settings vanish into a labyrinth of submenus, and the once-simple login screen now demands biometrics, a blood sample, and a quick game of “prove you’re not a robot” by identifying all the crosswalks in a blurry image.

Then comes the aftermath. The update drops, and chaos erupts. Power Users howl, “WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THIS?! I HAD A WORKFLOW!” Casual Users stare blankly at their screens, whispering, “I just wanted to check my email. Why is there a blockchain integration now?” Meanwhile, the Developers, sweating nervously, mutter, “Uh… it’s more intuitive?” as the app store reviews plummet into 1-star oblivion. Yet, deep down, we all know the truth: change is inevitable. Somewhere between “this is fine” and “burn it all down,” companies must walk the tightrope of keeping things fresh without triggering mass user revolt.

So the next time your favorite app rearranges itself like a toddler with a new toy, just remember: it’s not you, it’s progress. And if that doesn’t comfort you, there’s always the classic coping mechanism—yelling into the void (also known as Twitter). Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go relearn how to attach a file in Gmail. Again.