Sometimes I’ll talk about something I like online and people will express shock that I can use a product that has such a clear downside. I’ve gotten people ask how I can use Things since it doesn’t have shared task lists. More recently I was told the monitor I wanted to get would have been outdated in 2008 because it didn’t have Thunderbolt or 5K resolution.

Here’s the thing, neither of those things impacted my use of the product at all, so their omissions don’t make me feel anything at all.

A core thing that people seem to forget sometimes is that different people have different needs from the things they use. And even if there’s overlap in what people want, they may rank those things differently. If we focus on the display example above, there are tons of variables that go into choosing a computer display. Cost, resolution, brightness, viewing angle, response time, refresh rate, display tech, physical design, inputs, and more go into your choice, and different people want different things. I know a good portion of the “Apple Twitter” (I know we’ve moved on, but you know what I mean) population sets 5K resolution, physical design, and Thunderbolt input as the core features they want. They certainly wouldn’t turn away higher refresh rates, more inputs, or a lower price, but they’re lower priorities for them.

Meanwhile, I prioritize refresh rate, display tech, and inputs more because those impact my use case more significantly. Of course, I wouldn’t mind some of the other features to be better, but I care about them less and others don’t impact me at all.

All that being said, it’s a lesson in empathy, and it’s a reminder that most of us could use every now and again (including myself).