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Are we experiencing a ‘great re-buttoning’?
The new iPhone has two new buttons, stoves and washing machines are getting new knobs, and automakers are getting blowback for porting too many controls through the touchscreen. Rachel Plotnick, an associate professor of Cinema and Media Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington and author of the book Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing, explains why we may be experiencing a re-buttoning renaissance.
But on the other hand, people seem to have a hunger for physical buttons, both because you don’t always have to look at them—you can feel your way around for them when you don’t want to directly pay attention to them—but also because they offer a greater range of tactility and feedback.
Touchscreens Are Out, and Tactile Controls Are Back
[IEEE Spectrum]
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