Interface Frictions
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Speaker
Dr Neta Alexander is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media at Yale University
Dr Neta Alexander is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media at Yale University and the co-author of Failure (Polity Press, 2020). Her work focuses on digital culture, film and media, science and technology studies, and critical disability studies. Her recent book, Interface Frictions (Duke University Press, 2025), explores four ubiquitous interface design features—refresh, playback speed, autoplay, and Night Shift—to develop a theory of digital debility.
Abstract
In Interface Frictions, Neta Alexander explores how ubiquitous design features in digital platforms reshape, condition, and break our bodies. She shows that while features such as refresh, playback speed, autoplay, and night mode are convenient, they can lead to “digital debility”—the slow and often invisible ways that technologies may harm human bodies. These features all assume an able-bodied user and at the same time push users to ignore their bodily limitations like the need for rest, nourishment, or movement. Building on the lived experiences of people with disabilities, Alexander explores alternative design solutions that arise from a multisensorial approach to communication.
