It is endlessly frustrating that companies have universally decided that they won’t let people say “no” to stuff, ever. There are no longer options to reject stupid-ass new “features”, only postponement until next time you open the app/website/program. They’ll continue pestering you for the rest of your life. I realize that my frustration may be a little over-zealous, but we deal with these interfaces dozens of times per day and this is user hostile behavior. There isn’t really an option to just use another service or program, since the entire technology landscape has been commandeered by a few major corporations, and they all enact the same shitty things as a group.
We need a simple name for this, like we have for enshittification or shrinkflation.
Perhaps “donkey taming”? Donkeys are often associated with stupidity, but they’re actually rather smart… and stubborn, they don’t do what you want them to do unless you’re really insistent, and slowly lead them the way that you want. What those businesses are doing with users is the same.
It’s a subset of dark patterns.
Yes! It’s a dark pattern microagression.
Consumer manipulation?
Corporate badgering?
Hmmm… maybe something involving “false dichotomy”, “Sysyphus”, “pestering”, “options”, “forced politeness”, …
Illusion of choice.
Dark Pattern