The App Update Postponement Exception
Remind me later has been selected eighty-one times. Later has not arrived.
The notification appeared at 9:14 on a Tuesday. The notification said there was an update available. The notification offered three options: Update Now, Remind Me Later, and a small X in the corner that would dismiss the notification until it felt the time was right again.
Remind Me Later was selected.
I.
The second notification appeared on Thursday at 11:30. The update had not yet been installed. The notification now mentioned that the update included security improvements. Security improvements added weight to the ask. The weight did not change the answer.
Remind Me Later.
II.
By the third week, the notification had developed a new vocabulary. It said the app was "significantly out of date." Significantly was a judgment word. The phone was not a party to be judged.
The subject considered updating during lunch. Lunch required eating. After lunch there was a call. The call ran long.
Remind Me Later.
III.
The app continued to function. This was the critical fact. Any digital burden may remain permanent if dismissing it takes less effort than fixing its source. The update required a connection, a few minutes, and a restart. None of these requirements were onerous individually. Together they constituted a threshold the urgency of the app's current function never crossed.
The app worked. The update could wait. Later had a flexible definition.
IV.
In March, a colleague mentioned that the app had released a major feature two versions ago. The feature was described. The description was appealing.
The subject opened the app. The app was two versions behind.
The subject selected Remind Me Later, because updating felt like a separate task, and this was not a separate task moment, and the original task was the thing in front of them.
The separate task moment has not arrived. The notification knows this. The notification will return on Friday.
V.
Eventually app update postponement acquires an unwritten enforcement system that everyone denies creating. The phone has learned to stop offering Update Now as the default option. It has moved to a smaller prompt that appears at the bottom of the screen and is easier to dismiss.
The tool is supposed to save attention, yet using it creates another thing that demands attention. The phone and its owner have reached an arrangement that satisfies neither party and maintains the current state indefinitely.
Later.