Work

Caring for a companion as a form of self-care. Exploring the design space for irritating companion technologies for mental health

Year: 2024

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This paper presents an approach to designing companion technologies for mental health based on a case study on social anxiety disorder (SAD). We highlight the potential of an irritating dimension of user experience and propose including irritating qualities in companions as a strategy to disrupt patterns of behavior and thought, support perspective change, and expand an individual’s comfort zone. Taking the Tamagotchi as a counterpoint to assisting technologies and combining frameworks and concepts from psychology and HCI, we propose the grounding metaphor of ‘caring for the companion as a form of self-care,’ arguing the potential of building reciprocal care relationships as a means by which to support emotional attachment and establish healthy routines. In this paper, we introduce this grounding metaphor and a set of principles for fostering positive irritations. Our framework provides a basis for exploring and developing novel paradigms and poses future directions for HCI.

Source: Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

DOI: 10.1145/3679318.3685343

Authors: Jordi Tost, Rahel Flechtner, Rahel Maué, Frank Heidmann

Institutions: Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

Language: English

Topic: Innovative Human-Technology Interaction

Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W4403003899

FWCI: 3.58

Cites: 89

Cited by: 11

Related to: 10