Flow is used quite loosely in writings on game design, HIC and interaction design. Flow is not the greased gears of an interactive experience; flow is not the measured ease with which a user glides through a process. Unless of course one is using a definition of Flow that differs from the originator of the term and concept - M. Csikszentmihalyi.

Using Csikszentmihalyi definition of Flow, I would say that what many HCI interfaces achieve is something I will call Device Mesmerism. This state is achieved when the user becomes gravitated by the interface, where outside stimulus, such as someone calling their name, is not comprehended due to the gravity of the machines holding power (see Turkle on

Video Game and Computer Holding Power).

Additionally, Device Mesmerism enters the player/user into a scenario of self-actualisation that is antipodal to Csikszentmihalyi's hopes for Flow to yield an empowerment to the individual. Instead, a person entered into Devise Mesmerism is reduced to a sub-human state where self-actualisation, and higher states of consciousness (see Damasio and Damasio’s Tree) are attenuated. What is left is a person communicating with a machine on machine-terms. A metaphorical tunnel is constructed, where the whole human cannot fit – leaving behind higher faculties of consciousness and self, they enter into this zone, and become a muted extension of the machine. Douglas Rushkoff, in his book Screenagers, actually says that this is simply the natural evolution of things, and that we should adjust our suspicions as we watch our youth readily recede into device mesmerism.