Create with Conscience
Timeline
December 2019 - Present
Role
Writer, researcher, designer
Team
Bethany Sonefeld
Tools
Figma, Keynote, Google Docs
Overview
Dark patterns, bottomless feeds, and manipulative software. We are surrounded by addictive and toxic technology that is controlling our time, emotions, and attention. As creators, we have a tremendous responsibility to build tech that respects our users mental space and well-being. As consumers, we must begin to build balance with the technology in our own lives. It's time we create with conscience.
Background
I built Create with Conscience after feeling like technology was beginning to affect my life in a negative way. My short-term memory was fading, I constantly felt distracted, and was addicted to my devices. I decided to delete over half the apps on my phone, and limit the time I was spending on social media. Not surprisingly, within a few weeks I felt more focused, happier, and more present in my life. I began reading up on the works of Tristan Harris, Cal Newport, Doreen Dodgen-Magee, and Catherine Price. I began to realize that creators working in the tech industry are at the forefront of creating these digital experiences, which often times are or can become extremely addictive. I believe there are steps we can take to prevent that from happening.
Technology is controlling our…
TIME
Through the use of various techniques, technology is designed to get you hooked and keep you engaged.
EMOTIONS
We track everything from sleep, to exercise, to what we eat, loosing touch with our sense of selves.
attention
With constant distractions from multiple devices in our lives, it’s become extremely hard to focus.
“To begin to create with conscience,
there are 4 principles we
can use to manifest this.
”
1. Build with healthier boundaries
Put an end to infinite feeds and focus on building stopping queues for our users. Give them the control they need to personalize the software they use everyday.
2. Encourage well-being
As technology becomes woven into everything we do, it should always aim to improve life, not distract from it. Digital well-being is crucial to our mental health and relationships with our personal and social selves. Build in patterns that educate and promote digital well-being into the tools our world relies on.
3. Anticipate unhealthy behaviours
Despite what we choose to believe, the tech we’re creating can have a negative affect on our users physical and mental well-being. It’s important that we account for these unhealthy behaviours such as mental illness, addiction, exclusion, or oversharing. We should seek out opportunities to create a positive impact.
4. Change how we measure success
Working in tech, we're taught that clicks, shares, sign ups, and page views equals a healthy, thriving product. We pursue user engagement as a science, constantly thinking of new ways to achieve this goal. But the number of page views (high engagement) isn’t always equal to number of sales, like on an e-commerce platform. How can we shift our success metrics away from engagement and towards something more respectful? By using the Goals/Signals/Metrics Framework, we can identify and craft a narrative around what success looks like in our products and experiences.
You can view all these and more on the create with conscience website.
