With Great Impact Comes Great Responsibility

by Amy Chenault

Last year, more people died from taking selfies than from shark attacks: 12 to 8, respectively. Now this may not sound like a lot, but because of this (and other reasons) the selfie stick has been banned from many places, including Disney and Six Flags parks.

Did selfie-stick manufacturers anticipate this? Most likely not. It got me to thinking, though, how we product makers have a great responsibility.

Because it’s not just about the product we make.

(selfie stick)

Or the act.

(selfie)

It’s about the larger cultural phenomena that can occur.

(broadcasting our lives)

And the deeper human need within us all that drives it out of control.

(the need to be special, understood, and part of a larger group or calling)

As an interaction designer, part of my job is to help figure out how to translate the emotionally rewarding Society of Grownups physical experience to the digital space, and design tools to empower Grownups like you to take further action towards becoming financially well. As we work on this as a team here, we are thoughtful of the larger cultural and human needs at play, and the consequences designing for those needs could have.

It’s about designing for that deeper human need, while minimizing things getting out of control. The self-aware selfie stick, if you will.

So, in terms of money, we know there are existing behaviors that need to change: Conversations about money are hard because there is so much to know, and so many negative emotions associated with them. Terminology aside, there are the actual financial processes, like investment, that are confusing. We want to break down these confusing barriers, and help make taking action towards your goals less daunting.

In the design industry, there has been a great deal of talk about “design for behavior change.” Unfortunately, the true definition of this movement has been skewed: There has been a proclivity towards designing for what people need and what we’d like people to do, but a crucial gap exists. We’re not deeply examining current behaviors and understanding how they’ll be interpreted by the public at large — and what that could do to our cultural landscape.

There seems to be less concern for the consequences of behavior change (i.e., “If we build this stick to help people take selfies, they’ll get great images of themselves everywhere!”) rather than recognizing the broadcasting and “getting lost in the moment” behaviors (i.e., “If we build this stick to help people take fantastic selfies, we may be feeding into existing shame-driven fears of being ordinary — and may even physically endanger the selfie-taker.”).

Because of this, products are made, culture is changed, consumers are blamed, and being a Grownup seems like even more of a stretch goal than it already was.

In terms of financial literacy, let’s look at credit cards. The concept of a credit card has been around since the 1800s, but today, the average U.S. household credit card debt stands at $15,706. People with debt could be seen as not having it together, and on some level may be seen as cultural outcasts.

Because of this, people with debt may feel ashamed. That shame could be partially derivative of the fear of not belonging or matching up to others around us (i.e., not having the same amount of financial wealth as a neighbor).

Going back to the nature of human behavior, and especially that need to belong, we here at Society of Grownups started thinking about our power for change, both intentional and accidental.

We want to diminish that shame and empower instead. What would happen if we designed tools that did this? Hopefully, it would help you put money into perspective, and inspire action towards your goals. Not by telling you what to do (feeding into existing financial shame spirals) but by making sure you have the information necessary to make your own educated decisions (promoting healthy confidence-building behaviors).

When we design products — any product — we need to understand the desired intent and the unanticipated intents. The surprises. The actual impact. Impact isn’t the easiest to plan for, but it’s our inherent responsibility as product makers to do so.

And that’s what we’re trying to do here as a team. As we learn and plan more deeply for the impact our digital tools will have, we know we can’t anticipate everything. The future is unforeseeable and surprises happen. However, we’re trying to minimize the consequences of what we make. Through our Grownup research, product experiments, beta testing sessions, and post-class feedback, we’ll continue to learn and adapt as we develop new — and refine existing — products.

So, the next time you’re about to make the next “selfie stick,” please think past the desired effect, and think about the undesirables, too.

The greater the impact, the greater the responsibility product companies must accept. And part of that responsibility is recognizing both the potential and flaws of our greatest ideas.

This article was first published on the Society of Grownups blog.

When not working with the UX team at Society of Grownups, Amy enjoys hiking with her husband and her Golden Retriever, Eiko (named for a character from FF IX).