Calm tech Posted on
Some time ago, I fell in love with Amber Case’s concept of calm tech: technology that requires the smallest possible amount of attention.
Amber spoke of calm tech in the context of interaction design: calm technology can inform without overburdening, communicate without interrupting, and create ambient awareness through all senses. I fell in love with those principles; they shaped my design philosophy.
But an important aspect is missing: calm requires trust. If you can’t trust your device or software to be on your side, it’s not calm; it’s just silent.

I suggest a different set of rules for calm tech:
- Only act in the user’s best interests
- Make recommendations that benefit the user, not third parties.
- Require as little attention as possible
- A person’s primary task should not be computing, but being human.
- Inform without overburdening.
- Be honest with the user
- Only use data in ways the user intends.
- Do not deceive, mislead or lie to the user.
- Keep the user in control
- Get active, informed consent, and respect the user’s decision.
- Let the user have the final say. Ask or suggest, but never demand.
- Do not hold data hostage.
- Operate safely without supervision
- Automated actions should respect the user’s intent.
- Errors should call for the user’s attention.
Related ideas
- A computer can be a bicycle of the mind
- Deceptive patterns are the opposite of calm tech