Why the angst?
Regardless of all the wonderful, beautiful things in our modern world, people seem more uptight than ever. No previous generation has ever had it as good as we do. It's easy to blame media headlines for their existential threats or the advertisements that say life is meaningless without some product.
What makes it worse is television is supposed to be our time to relax and recharge from work, the kids and the traffic. Even the weather forecasters don't say storm anymore. Instead they warn us of the imminent, terrifying vortex knocking at the front door.
Ad nauseam
If the lobbyists who influence our politicians had their way, we'd have thirty minutes of ads per hour instead of the suffocating fifteen minutes we have at present.
Choices
The computer revolution changed the world, but it also broke rank with the rule of choices: when listing options, never present more than a few. AOL initially dominated the internet but lost people in part because it confused them with too many options.
Imagine driving at 60 mph and a huge road sign overhead reads American, exit A; Delta, exit B; Braniff, exit C; Frontier, exit D; Air Canada, exit E; and Spirit, exit F. That's what Dallas–Fort Worth Airport signage once asked drivers to process before congestion and accidents forced a simpler system.
The five-second rule
People will look at a page or sign for about five seconds to decide whether to continue or not.
The four-option rule
People prefer only two options; three is okay; four should be the maximum. Good interfaces use several smaller signs—pages with two to four choices—instead of one huge page with a multitude of choices. It amazes me how these elementary brain functions are ignored by intelligent people.