Individual UX case study – own project – 2021
How might we design a service that helps parents to set limits to their children’s digital screen time in an encouraging way for both small children and parents?
Background and problem space
Numerous doctors and health institutes have expressed that children below 7 years old should avoid using digital tools more than 2 hours a day. Through collective experience we know that it is challenging some days to motivate children to turn off their digital devices. How might we find a constructive and empathic way to motivate young children in the everyday life?
– Suggested age varies, but not more than 1 h for children under 4 years – WHO
– Not more than 1 h for children under 8 years – Anders Hansen
– Children that learn to use digital tools at early stage, often become more safe on internet and are better prepared to protect themselves on the net Elsa Dunkels. She also argues that adults should always company the child, they should never be left alone.
– Children that have more than two screens in their presence tend to sleep one hour less per night Mikeal Heiman. They also learn more from playing with adults than in front of a screen.
A few words from research
Voices from parents
“My children often listen and follow our family rules, but if I ones in a while let them sit 2–3 hours infront of a screen, then it becomes tough to turn it off. My children then tend to get wild, ill-tempered and have a hard time to adjust to real life from the digital screen world. At that time they are very far away from the positive flow they usually have when playing and lose their usual fantasy and creativity .”
— Karin, mother to two daughters, 4 and 7 years
“I think the main thing is to maintain the free and creative way of playing, both digitally and IRL.” In her business children design their unique pearls and jewelry that they order. Their play continues IRL when they receive the pearls and handcraft their own bracelets and necklaces.
— Therése, entrepreneur and mother of two daughters, 11 and 14 years
“My daughters, thinks it’s relaxing and fun to play for a while on the iPad when they get home from school and preschool. But it is important to limit the time they play on the screen, she thinks.”
— Karin, mother to two daughters, 4 and 7 years
When does it become too much and unhealthy?
– When the screen supersede time spent with parents
– When the screen is the preferred choice instead of sports or outdoor play
Workshop exercises
Empathy map: This is how it feels when the child plays with an iPad or smart phone. To discover if we had found the right problem to solve, a lightning decision jam was made with the questions: What brings happiness and when does the mood go down? At what point does this happen?
Defining “screen time”
The mobile has more and more functions in the household. Is it possible for a parent to put away the mobile, when we use it for lightening the lamps, turn on Spotify, time the egg boils, read recipe, take photos?
Is there “fine time”
and “ugly time”?
– Is it screen time when grandmother read a good night story at zoom?
– Will we have another approach to mobile usage after the pandemic?
These where some of the questions that occurred during the discovery phase.
Persona 1
– User : the child
Hi, my name is Edward and I am 4 years old. It is much fun but also tiring to go to preschool. I am usually exhausted when I come home after a long day playing with all my friends! So when we come home I just want to cuddle up in the sofa and borrow mum and dads’ iPad and surf into SVT Play barn.
What is not that good is when I am in the middle of a game they interrupt med for eating dinner. Then I get soooo disappointed, because I am not ready, I am in the middle of the game!
Persona 2
– User: the parent
Hi, my name is Sara and I am the mum to Edward. I have to admit that it is quite a job to get the life puzzle work. It’s full speed at work, and then my husband and I share leaving and fetching at preschool. When I fetch Edward my husband works longer days, and those days I do the shopping, cook dinner and everything between. Both med and Edward are so tired, and then I let him play with the iPad at Svt barnplay. It works good, he calms down, but then he get so uncontrolled angry and disappointed when I tell him the dinner is ready. It is so seldom I time him finishing a game. I wish it was different, and sometimes I wonder, would it better not to let him play, so that I could save him from becoming so mad?
Problem statement
How might we design a service that help parents limiting the time their young child spend on mobile devices, with features that eliminates frustration for both the child and parents.
Concept:
A designed portal that you and your young child fill with entertaining games. Together design the room and choose appropriate apps that feels safe and fun to play with!
Major functions
Visual time indication – easy to follow how much time remains
Instant reward when turning off or pausing the game smoothly – animated stars and bookmarking function
The parent has a mirrored screen on their smart phone, which enable the parent to update the time funkction and to follow the child’s game
Prototype
