The rise of digital wellbeing : A qualitative content analysis of choice architectures within digital wellbeing applications

Abstract: Digital wellbeing is a response to the current societal challenges of technology overuse and smartphone addiction. There is limited knowledge about designing for digital wellbeing, despite digital wellbeing tools becoming increasingly popular. This study looks beyond features and directs the research towards information architecture. This study examines choice architectures within contemporary digital wellbeing applications to better understand their design and structure. Specifically, it investigates how design influences decision-making processes and self-regulatory systems. Empirical data was gathered from six digital wellbeing applications and analysed abductively by adopting a qualitative content analysis approach. Despite all the applications having a high user rating, they are not designed to facilitate self-regulation. Instead of providing helpful tools to mitigate problematic smartphone use, the applications use strategies that emphasise overriding set time limits. Furthermore, digital wellbeing design principles can be considered ambiguous and lack sufficient understanding of information architecture and psychology. The results led to discussions about the motives behind digital wellbeing, contextual awareness, and how digital wellbeing challenges current views of ethics and design strategies.