I like change. Most of the time.
I enjoy seeing what has changed, clicking around, and figuring out how something works now. A new interface usually makes me curious rather than annoyed.
The recent changes to ChatGPT threw me off anyway.
I noticed it when we were working on a video script and tried to open it in Canvas. It didn’t work. We tried again. Still nothing. Eventually, we continued in the regular chat because the script needed to be written somewhere.
It took me a while to get back into the work.
That surprised me. The words were still there. The conversation was still there. We could continue doing almost everything we had planned. It just looked different from what I expected, and apparently that mattered more than I realized.
I had become used to seeing the conversation in one place and the developing script in another. I could move between them without thinking about it.
It took longer than I expected to find my way back into the script. I had to remind myself what we had already decided and where I had been going with the thought.
Until then, I hadn’t considered Canvas part of my thinking process. It was simply where the script appeared. Except it clearly wasn’t that simple. I was used to having the conversation and the developing script separated visually. I knew where to look.
When everything stayed in the chat, I kept looking for a space that wasn’t there.
Maybe this is similar to someone moving things around on your desk. You can still find everything, but first you reach toward the place where it used to be. I seem to do that in digital spaces too.
I don’t usually notice how familiar an interface has become. I notice when it changes, especially when I am already in the middle of trying to think.
I still like change. I also seem to need a little time when it changes the space where my thoughts have learned to go.
I hadn’t really considered that before.
