PROJECT 1 – CREATING A HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN

PROBLEM ———————————

Now that classes are online and people are encouraged to stay inside, the issue of screen time has become more prominent than ever.  Students can spend hours at their desks, listening to multiple 1 – 2 hour lectures and completing homework, all the while never leaving their screens.  After school and such is finished, most people I know like to unwind with a hobby or a mindless video. This can be a problem, as a lot of people have hobbies that involve more screen time, whether it be digital art or browsing social media.  

Increased screen time has been proven to have undesirable health effects, and considering most Americans before the pandemic spent about 7 hours a day looking at screens [Source: NY Post], And I can only imagine those hours only went up after quarantine as well as online classes became the norm.

CONTEXT ———————————

Some may already know why this is a problem, but to explain: The reason extended screen time is so detrimental is because of the common negative side effects such as eye strain, poor posture, sleep problems, and reduced physical activity, but these are just a few.  Screen time, blue light, a hunched position and the promotion of a more sedentary lifestyle are a few causes of these things, but are all in all caused by sitting at your computer or phone for far longer than you should be [Source: Medical News Today]. 

A few digital artists I’ve found in a forum post share these problems and explain that they sometimes spend 6 – 9 hours in front of their art programs in a day [Forum], and a few artists I follow on social media such as YouTube and Instagram have expressed similar work hours, as well as eyestrain, back pain and wrist pain. Social media in it’s own right can also be harmful, constantly comparing yourself to others, grinding for followers, checking your phone every other minute, waiting for your required 20 likes so you don’t need to delete the post you just created 10 minutes ago.  All the while you sit alone in your room.

This problem is important to me because I am one of those people who can spend 12 hours in front of my computer, only to get up from my chair, rub my sore neck, and look in the mirror to find bloodshot eyes.  This problem not only affects physical but mental health as well, and sitting in your room with nothing but a monitor can be pretty isolating.  Many artists also post their creations online, hoping that a piece that took them days can be appreciated and loved, because maybe one day they can be as popular as their favorite artist.  I am not narcissistic enough to believe that I am the only one with this problem, and while I am not exactly looking for fame, as a digital artist I’m sure others who share my pastime can especially relate to this.

Many problems come with technology, but that doesn’t mean you need to give up on the things you like because of it, it just means you need to be careful, it means you need to police yourself just as you do in normal everyday life.

TECH ———————————

Traditional Social Media apps promote comparison, unlimited content, unlimited scrolling, vial sharing, long bouts of screen time and unnecessary hate.  These are the things I wish to change when redesigning traditional social apps, and take away unnecessary stress as well as screen time.  These apps include things like follower counts, like counts, hate comments, verification and social obligations on what to create, what to post, when to post and how often you should post.  These can create a social hierarchy, and can determine a person’s worth based off of only what they share to social media.  Those with high follower and like count can be considered better than those with lower numbers, and active comparison between them can cause self-esteem issues, which can ultimately cause depression [Source: Social Comparison]. Most apps also allow private messaging, creating a space where others can send messages they are not willing to say in a more public setting like the comments or real life.  Social media also creates a validation and reward system, prompting addictive behaviors and a dopamine reward system.

Social media apps additionally promote unlimited scrolling, and give very little, or useless cues to stop consuming media.  TikTok and Instagram are two apps I encounter this problem on daily, and in the end I find that I’ve been on a ‘10 minute break’ for an hour.  This lack of stopping cues can become a downward spiral into unnecessary screen time. 

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VALUES ———————————

Attention, Social Reasoning and Group Dynamics are three human sensitivities I feel will improve the most when redesigning traditional social media apps, as they seem to be normally missing.  I believe these are important as the lack of these sensitivities can affect how one can feel about themselves and increase the amount of time sitting in front of a screen.  I especially feel these are important in the digital art community, as many of us spend too much time in front of a screen, draw out of social obligation, and encounter hate within the community via comments and drama.

REDESIGN ———————————

An app that I would like to create to encourage these sensitivities would be a limited styled re-design of a picture sharing social media app called DrIdle.  This app will be built for artists, only for art that is traditionally created (aka: Drawings, paintings, pottery and anything not created digitally), so that users will not spend large amounts of time creating digital art on a screen.  It will encourage users to stay off the app as long as possible, and to only open the app to post a photo of a latest drawing/ painting if they so please.  I will encourage this via a timer that tracks when you were last on the app, use notifications to remind a user to stop scrolling after 30 mins, and force-shut down the app completely after an hour of use (though this timer would not be shown, as to not cause unnecessary anxiety with a count-down), requiring that the user waits 24 hours before opening it again. 

Follows, likes, shares and messaging would all be taken out as to not create a hierarchy in the app and too prevent triggers of dopamine, creating an environment in which creators will have no one to actively compare too and one that attempts to prevent addiction to it’s features.  App users will still have the option to bookmark other users, but these bookmarks will be unrecorded/ not shown in a profile.  

This app would also send out occasional notifications, recommending that a person get off technology for a while and take some time to sit under the sun, or draw with other people.  A user also has the ability to give the app access to the rest of your phone, and allow it to block non-essential apps for a given period of time.  Suggesting alternative/artistic activities when they attempt to open a non-essential app (aka: Anything but calling and normal messaging) within that time period, such as drawing what they see outside, hand exercises and coloring.

This app will be created with human needs in mind first, but will be geared towards those more artsy.

Here is a link to a Adobe XD file, that illustrates a basic layout of the app (still pretty new at xd) ——————————–>  [LINK]