Overview

Mitigate excess phone usage among teenagers

Teens are expected to use technology both in and out of the classroom to make the grade. They manage their social lives through various apps and social media platforms. In these conditions, how might we help teens avoid developing cell phone addiction? This project addresses this issue and derives a solution using teens' emotions and phobias.

Problem

50 percent of teens “feel addicted” to mobile devices

Results of a 2016 Common Sense Media Report found that 50 percent of teens “feel addicted” to mobile devices. This survey also showed that 72 percent of teens feel the need to immediately respond to texts, social-networking messages, and other notifications; 78 percent of teens check their devices at least hourly.

Goals

Limiting cell phone usage among teenagers gradually

Solution

A personalized heat-sensitive cell phone case that discloses the user's phobias when the phone is used too much

Process

Desk Research + Ideation + Design + Iteration + Prototype

I started the provess with online research and gradually moved on to translating the problem into an effective solution through multiple iterations.

Desk Research

Studying about teenagers and their cell phone behaviors

A 2018 Pew Research Report showed that 45 percent of teens said they use the Internet “almost constantly,” and another 44 percent said they go online several times a day.

I also started studying how people hold and interact with a cell phone in general. I wanted to explore the idea that something about the way a cell phone is used can help in mitigating its over usage.

Ideation

Creating a hindrance to using cell phones

I started converting my thoughts into rapid sketches of devices that would cause an obstacle to using cell phones.

Chosen Idea

Heat-sensitive cell phone case

Cell phone cases are used as protections to prevent the phones from breaking. While holding the phone, when excess heat is transferred from the hand of the teenager to the phone case, the color of the case changes. This could be an indication of excess usage.

Why is this a good idea?

The heat-sensitive cell phone was the only one which had

1. No need for any extra device to be worn or bought
2. The ability to camouflage and serve 2 purposes - protect the phone and act as a subtle reminder of excess usagePotential to work in a subtle way

Aspects of Consideration

It was important to consider the following aspects of interaction design while creating the mechanism.

User Journey

Understanding user needs and pain points

The teenager will go through 5 stages starting from the need to buy a heat-sensitive phone case to actually buying it, using it and benefitting from it. This helped me in understanding the needs and pain points of the user.

Quick User Testing

Negative response

I bought a heat-sensitive cell phone case online and a regular case with a heat-sensitive pigment coating. I tested it out on 10 users. Both of cases worked well but the users had a lot of concerns as to what does the color denote? The change in color does not particularly remind of excessive cell phone usage and may not keep them away from their phones. In fact they found it cool.

Low-fi prototypes

Improvising on the idea by adding visuals

Based on user feedback, I realized just changing the color is not enough. It could mean anything. It needs to be a specific nudge. What better than visuals? And what keeps you away from certain things? Fear! So I decided to combine the two and created visuals of thinbs one might have a phobia of. I also created some options with text for a more subtle nudge.

Hi-fi Prototype

Adding final touches and making the visuals realistic

Gaining insight from the low-fi prototype, I further refined the designs to look disruptive and more off-putting to persuade the user to avoid excessive usage of the cell phone. These covers could be custom-made depending on what fear or message the teenager wants.

Learnings and Takeaways

The solution lies within

I realized that finding solutions to problems is not about introducing new things to solve the problem but about repairing what is broken inside. This also made me the realize the importance of iterating our ideas.

User testing required

The hi-fi prototype was not tested. Taking this project further, I would love to test it with the users and analyze if it works or not, and if it does, upto what extent.