What is User Autonomy?
Article outlining the definition of User Autonomy
One of the most fundamental rights of being a human is the element of autonomy. Autonomy is the ability to make decisions based on our own accord. In some places, autonomy can be challenged and frowned upon by the institution. And in such scenarios, the affected individuals can feel restricted, helpless, and forced into situations that aren’t of their best interests.
For example, women in certain cultures have mandates to dress a certain way and behave a certain way. For these women, autonomy in the way they dress and behave are restricted — they live without the autonomy that are granted for men in their culture or given to those belonging in other cultures.
While autonomy within cultures is a great topic of discussion, for today’s article, we’ll be looking at user autonomy with respect to user experience in the digital space.
User Autonomy in UX
It’s classified as an infringement on user autonomy in UX when users are forced or manipulated to carry out task flows in a certain way that’s unfavourable towards the users, or when their autonomy is restricted by the design solution. We might have heard of the term, “dark pattern”, used to define this lack of user autonomy.
