Toilet paper and tab bars

Inventions get replaced by newer inventions all the time. Paper maps became Google Maps. CD’s made way for Spotify. Electric cars are slowly but steadily replacing fuel cars.

But some inventions I can’t imagine being replaced by something else. Like cutlery, nail clippers and toilet paper. What makes these inventions different? Is it that we use these things with our hands? Is there something about hand tools evolving to a certain “perfect” design? What about digital “hand-optimized tools”?

Like mobile app navigation. The tab bar is for your thumb what toilet paper is for your bum. It’s simply the best way to get the job done.

In the beginning of smartphones we saw many different ways to navigate an app. But slowly, less patterns remained. And now the tab bar, which was already in the first version of iOS, seems to have won. It has proven to be the best navigation pattern for most mobile apps.

Will we still be using tab bars 10 years from now? The Lindy Effect says that the longer a technology or idea has existed, the longer it will exist. Case in point: I’m typing this using an invention from 1874: a QWERTY keyboard (OK I’m using a virtual keyboard on my phone but basically it’s still the same thing). So yes, I believe we will still be using tab bars in 2032 (if we still have smartphones that is).

Will we still wipe our butts with toilet paper 100 years from now? I wouldn’t be surprised. But then again, maybe my imagination is limited. Maybe a century from now, our descendants will be using the three seashells.