Dark Patterns in Product Design
The following is a reflection piece for UX Academy

If you’ve ever spent any time in the Las Vegas airport, you’d know it’s a desolate, soul-sucking wasteland (even more so than normal airports). At all hours of the day there are hungover revelers slumped over slot machines, and dingy, nicotine-stained rooms where little old ladies pull levers all day in hopes of winning the jackpot. You might shake your head and think how sad, but are the rest of us really any different? Aren’t we all just as equally addicted to the “slot machines in our pocket”, staring at screens all day waiting for the dopamine rush we get from likes, retweets, and leveling up? These are the thoughts that came to mind when I was going through the DesignLab course material on product design. And I’m not the only one; Tristan Harris, a former product designer at Google, discusses in the articles below how software engineers are purposefully exploiting weaknesses in human psychology to foster addiction to their products. By utilizing well-known behavior modification tactics, well-designed software conditions us to become habituated to the product, much like how B.F. Skinner taught rats to press levers for treats.
The course material said it itself that good products create habits, that amazing products are indispensable, and that people would rather give up sex than go without their smartphone. This is great for product designers and the bottom line, but is it good for society? What does this “race to the bottom of the brainstem” mean for our relationships, attention-spans, and mental health?
That’s not to say that I’ve become a Luddite and think all technology is evil. After all, I’m in this program to become a UX designer! But as product designers become savvier to incorporating psychological tricks into their services, I have to wonder what the impact will be. Is it “engagement”, or is it manipulation? And do we as product designers have a moral imperative to design responsibly?
