Wellbeing: Digital & Mental -100 Days of Design, Writing & Emotions

Design

The best digital products add to your wellbeing.



Users will respect your product if it respects their time

I couldn't agree more.



We're no longer in the infancy of digital software. Ethical design isn't news anymore. As the digital world merges almost completely with the ‘offline’ world, especially in the middle of COVID, digital products have to start playing by IRL rules.



Enter design for digital wellbeing.



Companies like Google have started to focus on their users' digital well-being after realising that designing for maximum engagement is harmful to users. Who woulda thought? (*insert not me meme*). Attention is scarce and if users are dedicating a large chunk of their daily attentional energy to your product, another part of their life is suffering.



Google are working on a suite of tools to help educate users on their relationship to tech and introduce healthier habits. Examples include timers that show users how much time they've spent in apps, grey-scale modes to lessen device addiction and notification snooze.



Around the web, you'll find tools like Anne Laure's teeny breaks, to provide science-backed tips for your short breaks, and Thyself: a browser based moodtracker and mental health toolkit reminding you to breathe and check-in with yourself.



In the same way that there are accessibility design principles, I'm imagine we'll begin to see digital wellbeing design principles over the next 1-5 years.



One of the aspects of the design journey I'm most excited about is designing for wellbeing and contributing to the formation of these principles.







Beyond respecting users' attention, I‘m interested in how digital products can enhance users’ mental wellbeing. And not just as nice marketing words. As real, value generating tools, like RoamResearch allowing a user to find habitual patterns and dig themselves out of their depression.



Emotions

Today in the world of emotions, a quote from the article above: ‘Finding patterns in the past: Using Roam as a self-therapy tool’



"A pattern... can be seen as a repeating habit triggered by an external influence on our inner life"



"If you seek out your own patterns, you are one step closer to taking charge of your story by reducing the impact of destructive triggers."



My external trigger is the portfolio I'm working on. I, too, am using RoamResearch to record my daily reactions and emotions using a self-reflection method called 'Captain's log'.



Today I also worked with a coach to do parts and shadow work, exploring the two parts of my consciousness: the arrogant visionary and the submissive executioner that don't communicate with each other. The visionary wouldn't mind sacrificing everything in pursuit of her taste but the executioner knows and experiences the price of perfectionism, so she drags her feet. My homework is getting those two parts to talk. Wish me luck.