It feels nice to get points. It doesn’t really matter for what, but the more points the better. When you check into Foursquare, you get points, and it feels nice. And sometimes you even get a badge and that feels like the ultimate vindication, even if the badge is for 10 visits to the district court for traffic offences.
If this point system really speaks to people, why not use it to deal with society’s problems? It’s genius! For example, if people got points every time they weren’t racist, they wouldn’t want to be racist anymore. All inveterate and institutionalised racism would melt away, right? Because points! The comedy network Above Average made a Thingstarter for their parody app iNotRacist so you can see just how productive and effective all these tracking apps are. It’s time to facilitate some social change.