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Are we breaking people with our designs? The impact of our design choices through an anthropological lens. Speaker: Steven Banfi October 6th, 2023

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About Me: Are we breaking people with our designs?

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About Me: Are we breaking people with our designs? UX Multi-Disciplinarian (aka Generalist)

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About Me: Are we breaking people with our designs? UX Multi-Disciplinarian (aka Generalist) Graphic Design → UX (15+ years total)

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About Me: Are we breaking people with our designs? UX Multi-Disciplinarian (aka Generalist) Graphic Design → UX (15+ years total)

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About Me: Are we breaking people with our designs? UX Multi-Disciplinarian (aka Generalist) Graphic Design → UX (15+ years total) 5 kids (12y - 26y)

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What’s today all about? Introduction Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Are we breaking people with our designs? The impact of our design choices through an anthropological lens. Speaker: Steven Banfi October 6th, 2023

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Part One

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Part One ( regret )

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Improve the following metrics: ● Site engagement ● Average time on site ● Bounce rate Example Real World Project Goal: Are we breaking people with our designs?

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“Don’t force the user to ask for more content: just give it to them.” 2006 - Aza Raskin builds a feature in one of the tools his firm developed. At the time, he felt it was a breakthrough so he wrote an article explaining the the idea: 2007 - 2008 - Continues to promote this functionality, speaks at IXDA 2008, and other conferences and promotes and pitches the idea across the industry. 2009 - Twitter is the first social media platform to implement the feature. Every other social media platform follows suit within a year. Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Time Magazine -15% bounce rate NBC News +20 pages per visit Adoption Results: Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Infinite Scrolling The Groundbreaking Feature? Are we breaking people with our designs?

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“One of my lessons from infinite scroll: that optimizing something for ease-of-use does not mean best for the user or humanity.”

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Not just infinite scroll and Aza Raskin. Are we breaking people with our designs? The “like” button. Comments on posts. Tagging people. Reactions. Notifications. Content Serving Algorithms. 15 interviewees from Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more appeared in the film “The Social Dilemma” showing regret in their part in designing these now staple features.

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“Infinite scroll” is likened to a virtual slot machine — which offers dopamine-inducing variable rewards, thereby making it hyper-addictive.” Psychology Today (2012) Research Study Observations Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Why are these features bad for you? ● Anxiety & loneliness 1 ● Dissociation from reality 2 ● Change how the brain responds to criticism 3 ● Gives the brain too much to process, especially at night 4 ● Sets unrealistic standards 5 ● FOMO → JOMO 6 1. Science Direct - Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults 2. ACM - “I Don’t Even Remember What I Read”: How Design Influences Dissociation on Social Media 3. JAMA - Association of Habitual Checking Behaviors on Social Media With Longitudinal Functional Brain Development 4. NIH - Systematic review of light exposure impact on human circadian rhythm 5. APA PsycNet - Looking through a filtered lens: Negative social comparison on social media and suicidal ideation among young adults. 6. Popular Science - Do you never feel FOMO? Time to meet its twin, JOMO

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Over 1 in 5 teens (13y - 17y) are constantly using apps that have been identified as being hyper-addictive for over 10 years. Pew Research Study, 2022 Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Pew Research Study, 2022 Are we breaking people with our designs? 33% say they spend too much time on social media. 53.5% say it would be difficult to give up. www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/ Sauce:

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Who’s responsible? Let’s get to the bottom of this. Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Part Two

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Part Two ( responsibility )

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The User Who’s Responsible: Option 1 Are we breaking people with our designs?

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✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋ ✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋ ✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋ ✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋✋ A show of hands Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Most people appreciate seeing usage statistics. 1 -however- Seeing usage statistics does not typically lead to a reduction of usage. 2 Studies on Usage Statistics 1. Monitoring Screen Time or Redesigning It? 2. “Your Screen-Time App Is Keeping Track”: Consumers Are Happy to Monitor but Unlikely to Reduce Smartphone Usage

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Most people disable screen-time limiting features (auto-close, overlay notifications, nag-messages) and see them as off-putting annoyances that undermine their sense of agency and freedom. 1 Studies on Usage Statistics 1. Monitoring Screen Time or Redesigning It?

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The Company / Business Who’s Responsible: Option 2 Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study TikTok enables 1 hour screen time limits by default for teens. (March 2023) Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study TikTok enables 1 hour screen time limits by default for teens. (March 2023) Caveats: Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study TikTok enables 1 hour screen time limits by default for teens. (March 2023) Caveats: ● Allows them to disable the setting. Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study TikTok enables 1 hour screen time limits by default for teens. (March 2023) Caveats: ● Allows them to disable the setting. ● Does not enable this screen time limit for all users. Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study TikTok enables 1 hour screen time limits by default for teens. (March 2023) Caveats: ● Allows them to disable the setting. ● Does not enable this screen time limit for all users. ● Does not discuss / consider changing the way its content is delivered. Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study Are we breaking people with our designs?

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TikTok: A Case Study Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Preliminary studies show an increase in time spent in app by 7%. 1 TikTok: A Case Study 1. Does Setting a Time Limit Affect Time Spent? On social media platforms when time-management notifications are enabled.

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“Money makes the world go ‘round.” The hard, but simple truth Are we breaking people with our designs?

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The Government Who’s Responsible: Option 3 Are we breaking people with our designs?

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1. A division in the scientific community. The Current State of Regulatory Action Are we breaking people with our designs?

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1. A division in the scientific community. The Current State of Regulatory Action Are we breaking people with our designs?

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1. A division in the scientific community. 2. A limited window of opportunity. The Current State of Regulatory Action Are we breaking people with our designs?

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1. A division in the scientific community. 2. A limited window of opportunity. 3. A limited scope for regulation. The Current State of Regulatory Action Are we breaking people with our designs?

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1. A division in the scientific community. 2. A limited window of opportunity. 3. A limited scope for regulation. 4. Politics get in the way of beneficial legislation. The Current State of Regulatory Action Are we breaking people with our designs?

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➔ Users (and their parents) ➔ Companies (and the designers who work for them) ➔ Governments (eventually, hopefully) Who’s responsible? Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Part Three

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Part Three ( response )

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Parents. You must have rules for your kids. Shift the paradigm Are we breaking people with our designs?

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People. You must have rules for yourselves. Shift the paradigm Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Digital wellness is not the sole responsibility of the user. Shift the paradigm Are we breaking people with our designs?

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As part of your process, ask “what if…” questions about behavioral impact. Some practical action Are we breaking people with our designs?

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“What if implementing this feature compels a user to spend over an hour per day using our application?” Some practical action Are we breaking people with our designs? “What if a user leverages this feature to take advantage of / manipulates other users?”

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For true change to occur, digital ethics must become part of every corporation’s social responsibility strategy. Corporate promises Are we breaking people with our designs?

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This strategy must: ➔ Dedicate real investment toward behavioral, ethical, and anthropological impact studies. ➔ Commit to feature or functionality removal or modification if those studies uncover negative impact—even if it impacts revenue. ➔ Include an education policy and resources for its employees about digital wellness. What that will take Are we breaking people with our designs?

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For true change to happen, there must be helpful legislation that regulates digital products in meaningful ways to prevents and protects against user exploitation. This is the Role of the Government Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Are we breaking people with our designs? The impact of our design choices through an anthropological lens. Speaker: Steven Banfi October 6th, 2023

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APPENDIX AKA - Stuff that didn’t make it into the presentation. Speaker: Steven Banfi October 6th, 2023

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% of Teens 13y to 17y who say they… PEW Research Study (2022)

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Our shared truth is getting muddy with misinformation. Challenges Are we breaking people with our designs?

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We are getting more and more polarized. Challenges Are we breaking people with our designs?

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Our standards are getting all jacked up. Challenges Are we breaking people with our designs?

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➔ Real world validation isn’t good enough. 1 ➔ Vanity standards are directly tied to the popularity algos. ➔ Content quality & truth doesn’t matter. ➔ The algorithms are designed to serve this kind of content, not have morality. Challenges 1. The Whiplash Effect of Social Media

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“A.I.” is getting smarter and smarter. It is literally a lab inside which we are innovating the next societal atom bomb into existence. Challenges Are we breaking people with our designs?