Mindful Design: Changing the Metrics from Distraction to Meaningful Engagement
After years of designing with user retention as the key performance metric, Tech companies have come to master the art of creating features and interactions to hook the users and keep them coming back, begging for more. In a race to monetize human attention, the systems designed to addict us ended up controlling our behaviors, opinions and life.
We are living in an era where a digital product’s success is shamelessly measured by how persuasive it is. Design techniques, Business incentives and even whole company structures, engineered to do better at hijacking our instincts than us at controlling them: Claps for the win, Likes for the validation, Retweets for the attention, Views for the glory, Autoplay, Suggestions, Streaks, etc. A whole science to promote engagement changing the biology of the users’ brains, feeding them dopamine hits at the great expense of their well-being
Skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined as our use of technology has increased, a 2016 study estimates that we tap, swipe and click on our devices 2,617 times each day. And more statistics show a clear message of how this attention grasping scheme is affecting some core pillars of todays society, going from mental health to democracy and social relationships.
A recent read of “Prisoners of Ourselves” by writer and psychologist Gündüz Y.H. Vassaf had grabbed my attention about how in a button-pressing environment, we, as rational humans, not only are we completely numbed by our illusional sense of accomplishement but no longer are fully aware of the essence of our actions.
We think, not of the action that we have set in motion by pressing the button, but rather, of the next action, the next movement that we have to do […] Whatever the case, we go on with our motions in the context of our own physical and psychological space. Our mind does not follow our actions.
Today’s users, however, are awakening to the consequences of years of falling for habit-forming interactions: rising trends ranging from social media fasting programs to digital detox retreats. Tech companies, on the other hand, are not ignoring this change in sentiment and are now feeling the urgent need to shift the focus from competing for attention into installing a healthier relationship with the ever-demanding technology.
Tristan Harris, who after quitting Google and co-founding the Center for Humane Technology, has emerged as a vocal critique to the digital attention crisis. He coined the “Time Well Spent” term, which aim is to realign technology with humanity’s best interests. This term have been adopted (or perhaps co-opted) by many, and among others Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. On the other hand Google, Apple, and, most recently, Instagram, have all unveiled features and tools that aim to give people a better control over their screen time.
However, next to the efforts made to protect us from constant distractions, designing “meaningful engagement” remains a grey area: when we act in ways that don’t align with our values just because the software in itself is built in a one size-fits-all manner leading to a mass mono-use of the product. For Joe Edelman, designer and social scientist, the issue concerning the activity on Facebook, for example, comes from the features of the software itself.
Social software simplifies and expedites certain social relationships, and certain actions, at the expense of others. And if the simplified actions and relationships weren’t designed with a users’ particular values in mind, then using the software can make living by their values more difficult, which leaves them feeling like their time was not well spent.
For example, it may be harder to live by the value of honesty on Instagram, if honest posts get fewer likes. Similarly, a courageous statement on Twitter could lead to harassing replies. On every platform, a person who wants to be attentive to their friends can find themselves in a state of frazzled distraction.
As users, we end up acting and socializing in ways we don’t believe in, and later regret. We act against our values: by procrastinating from work, by avoiding our feelings, by pandering to other people’s opinions, by participating in a hateful mob reacting to the news, and so on.
So how do we fix this ?
Harris in his TED Talk, suggests three radical changes that we need to make:
- We need to acknowledge that we are persuadable (e.g. messages that use our personality and traits against us?) and that it’s something we want to protect.
- We need new models and accountability systems : the goals of the persuader must align with the goals of the persuadee.
- We need a Design Renaissance with a clear view on human nature : protecting us against the interactions we don’t want to spend time on all while empowering the ones that are meaningful to us
Amber Case’s recent book on Calm Tech (inspired by 1995 Mark Weiser’s paper “Designing Calm Technology”) outlines principles for how technology should be mindful of its impact in the user’s life, to state a few:
- Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention.
- The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem.
- Technology should respect social norms.
In one way, raising the user’s awareness and responsibility over their daily use of tech is an important task in the path to creating true utility and joy. But in the end, empowering employees and companies to advocate for addiction-free based design decisions and business models remains the first step towards a more mindful technology.
Related findings
Kovert Designs by Kate Unsworth — CEO. Smart jewelleries designed to cut out the digital noise and alert you only to the stuff that matters.
Mindful Technology — A company helping redefine values for the connected era.
Digital Detangler — A book that provides readers with tools and strategies for rebuilding a digital environment that promotes focus while limiting distraction.
