I've been thinking about Craig Mod's essay The Healing Power of Code recently. In it, he writes about some palliative experiences that he has had writing computer code throughout his life. For him, coding helps create a solitary zone that he can retreat to in difficult times. About adding a search feature to his website, Craig writes "the real joy of this project wasn’t just in getting the search working but the refinement, the polish, the edge bits. Getting lost for hours in a world of my own construction. Even though I couldn’t control the looming pandemic, I could control this tiny cluster of bits."

I have felt the same way about coding. I think Craig captures the feeling quite well. Truth is, there is not much that we can directly control in life other than ourselves. But computers are an exception. Thoughts, expressed in the form of code, reliably direct the actions of the machine. Coding problems are understandable in a way that many things in modern life are not.

This is not how we tend to use computers. Phones are, for many, their primary computer. They are not designed for deep engagement with complicated systems. Control seems so distant when we use the power of computers and the internet to while away our fleeting moments staring at content feeds on our phones.

Phones are ubiquitous. They are so useful. It's hard to imagine giving them up. To me, interactions with a phone don't really feel like they are for me in the way that a great book can feel like it was made for me. Using a phone can feel like the world is tugging at you in every direction, with everyone and everything trying to pull your attention from the here-and-now in service of their own purposes. Spend more time looking at TikTok. Bet on this twelve way parlay. Be even more afraid of the opposing political party. In Kantian terms, the experience of using phones is too often to be merely a means to an end, not an end in itself.

I think it is sad that coding in the way Craig describes is a niche, slightly weird experience. Computers are meant for us to control. Yet they often seem to have some control over us. The ability to escape into a "world of your own construction" through coding doesn't feel like it should be an esoteric thing to do. It feels like it should be a common part of modern life, a way to feel in control when we often don't.