Designing Habits for Young Minds
Let’s play around with habits and design. What connects them? What are the opportunities and the dangers that define these two quite overused words? When some concept is worn out and starts to lose meaning for me, I wear my scientist glasses and look for my own definition – one that I own, and that pours fresh meaning into the dried container.
Ready to try this with me?
What is a habit?
A quick reminder: What we use gets stronger. This natural law applies to habits perfectly.
The basic cycle of habit formation in our brain works like this (very briefly, credit to dr. Barbara Oakley):
Cue - Something that launches you into the habit loop. It can be based on location, specific time of the day, how you feel or a reaction to an event or action.
Routine - What you do when you enter the habit loop. For example, “When I wake up, I must drink coffee before I change a diaper” (guilty...), or “When I feel nervous, I must eat a chocolate” (Who, me??). If you are willing to change the automatic routine, have a plan and catch the cue before entering the habitual response. Next time you feel nervous, try taking a deep breath, drinking a glass of water... you get the idea.
Reward - Every habit rewards us, which consequently makes the habit stronger. The reward is immediate and pleasurable, no matter the long-term impact. A covert cup of coffee before changing a diaper rewards me with a momentary sensation of having control over my time (which is obviously an illusion in my situation, with a baby and a toddler by my side). In the moment, the reward is stronger than the damaging outcome of too much coffee with too little sleep. A plan for me would be trying to link the same reward (control over my time), to another routine (like brushing my teeth) – What an empowering success to finish brushing your teeth BEFORE the morning bowel movement of the beloved charming cub.
Belief - Your personal assumptions about the habit. This component is essential. Are you willing to change a habit? You must believe in the possibility of change in order for it to happen. Are you truly happy with your habits? Great! Knowing that your habits are good for you and your environment will positively affect your confidence.
Technology modifies habits
Technology modifies the way we think, act and feel. You don’t need research – you’ve been using technology long enough to know it’s true. The reason you’re reading these lines is that you want to be more mindful about the use of technology in your life and the life of younger generations – whether it’s your own children, your nephews, your users, or the children of the future.
Shape your own tech habits
It is in your hands to choose what technology devices and products you use – for how long, and how often. You can choose apps that facilitate habits that suit you, like an app that builds running skills or updates you each morning with curated news topics tailormade for your interest.
You can choose to break a habit forged by technology if it is wrong for you. For example, I’ve realized that using messaging apps as a main communication source is bad for my well-being. In the past, delivering a message was simple. You call someone, you talk, you make a decision/get what you want, you end a call. Punto. Now you are free to go on with your day. Messaging apps (like WhatsApp, which is the most common in Israel) make your head a stew of endless chatter and glue you to your phone. It takes a huge bite out of my working memory; but because messaging is a habit, I hardly pay attention to its effect on my life, and keep messaging instead of calling. To break this habit, and in this case maybe even scare a few people(because who calls nowadays when there is no emergency), I need to make an active choice until the new habit is formed.
What about you? Which habits does technology create for you? Which habits would you prefer to overwrite? What are you willing to do about it?
Design humane habits
Designers construct habits for others. Designers for children build habits for the most precious and vulnerable human beings. Every designer who works for children must be a superhero – spreading good and fighting evil.
We are in the middle of a digital revolution. Countries across the world unite political and educational forces to create laws and regulations to protect children online and support their becoming digital citizens.
Creators of children’s digital experience also unite forces to boost the learning industry. With so much work to be done, there’s a place for everyone. Together we can reimagine the learning experience for children, create design practices and write new high standards for learning products that are creative, educative, and healthy. We can find out how to help users find and use our products when they need them without using elbows or shouting.
Let’s be humane designers. Let’s be humane to children.
Reimagining experience is not only about creating products but the whole ecosystem. Everything is interconnected:
Crafting products
Great standards for art
Involve educators for learning input – in all children’s products. There is no such thing as casual apps for children!
Involve experts in the process – scientists who understand child development and behavior
Improve search experience - how products/services are discovered. There is room for improvement on both the store side (for example, categorizing better and improving recommendation mechanisms); and on the product/design side (focusing more on more transparent look&feel that helps understand the real essence). All parties must think of the searching experience as a part of the user journey where the end goal is to find the best match as easily as possible.
Find a marketing language that gracefully expresses a product’s value, without offering false promises. Such language should be used with a young audience that has limited digital experience, is vulnerable and thinks differently than adults. Marketing to children is an underexplored field.
Find a useful way to test, collect and analyze data, and learn from a young audience while respecting their privacy and safety.
Conclusions
For adults: Be intentional about the tech products you consume.
For parents: Choose wisely for your children – don’t be lazy. Control the quality of both online and offline life skills that are important for your children’s development.
For designers: We are responsible for the future habits of the children we design for. Before making a product/design decision – put your ego aside, consult with colleagues and educators, and invest in usability testing.
I know there are deadlines. I know there are people we must impress, and it’s not “politically correct” to show weakness and insecurity. What if we change our approach as an industry, humbling ourselves to the fact that the educational design field is still young. There is so much still to learn, and we are responsible for exploring all possibilities and consequences of our decisions.
I hope one day our community will know how to create engaging educational products we can confidently offer our children. In the end, this is the best test. Let’s work together towards this goal.
Thank you for spending time reimagining children’s learning experience with me. I’d love to continue our conversation.