[_bxg1]

This is a really insightful way of framing the trend. I hadn't thought about it this way before but it makes perfect sense.

However: I think there's a more sinister aspect that's not covered in the article. Think about how dystopian so many software products are today - the privacy violations, the toxic social interactions, the dark patterns. It makes perfect sense that the companies behind these products would lean as hard into kawaii as they can, to mask the bad stuff and make the user more receptive. Who could be worried about the personal information they're giving away when there's a cute little cartoon animal shyly asking for it?