I know the inventor of the disposable toothbrush. They would stay at hotels that provided soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc., but a recurring issue was that they would forget their toothbrush, and hotels didn’t furnish a solution. It seemed obvious that hotels should have individually wrapped toothbrushes, just as they had other toiletries. Why didn’t anyone make an inexpensive short-term use toothbrush with toothpaste already applied? So, this person invented it – only they didn’t. They did in fact come up with the idea, as I’m sure did many others, but they never acted on it. Someone else eventually did. To this day, every time this person sees one, they declare how it was their invention.
This is my long overdue blog. It will not be perfect. It probably will not be widely read. Upon reviewing old items to be donated or thrown away, I came across some books and articles about blogging – from twenty years ago! It was important to me then, but not important enough for me to get started. My thoughts have remained stuck in my head or written in personal notes. I will now endeavor to put some of them out into the world. They may be ugly, unpopular, or just plain wrong, but they will be authentically mine.
Inaction is easy. We can easily fall victim to the default effect. There is a reason that GDPR requires that websites affirmatively receive users’ consent before using unnecessary cookies, rather than just making the settings available. There is a reason that creating a new online account or installing new software requires you to opt-out of marketing and data collection options, rather than opt-in. There is a reason that we defend our viewpoints without thinking, naturally tend to resist change, and support the status quo. The reason in all these cases is that we tend to accept the default. An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion in the same potentially unproductive direction that it has been moving in all along. We can let someone else start a company. We can let others write their blogs and novels. We can let yet another invent the disposable toothbrush.