I think you are absolutely right about "devices that help us understand how much we do x or y". Look at all the books about forming better habits or becoming more efficient. There is a demand to feel more in control of our lives, and of course, timely feedback helps that.
I can't think of many devices out there that even attempt this though. A pedometer is one, but I own a pedometer, and it is such a crappy device as to be almost worthless...
Posted by Josh at February 24, 2005 1:51 PMJust found this blog post by John Maeda on how time goes faster when you have a progress bar:
http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/archives/000109.html
I'm sure it's related.
Posted by Mike at March 10, 2005 6:56 PM