Smartphones are omnipresent in modern day society. We are in contact with each other every day and are no longer restricted to certain locations or times at which we can contact people around us. Within this study, a design probe called Knitwit was used to investigate ways to stimulate individuals to put away their smartphone more frequently in their home environment.
During a two-week intervention young adults (N = 4) used the probe in their home. Afterwards, the participants were interviewed about their experience with the probe. During the intervention, their smartphone use was logged, as was their use of the probe. The qualitative and quantitative data were combined to make suggestions for design directions within this field of research.
Results show that the probe did not directly have a large effect on the amount of smartphone use. However, the results indicate that the participants did behave differently concerning their smartphone and that they became more aware of their smartphone use. Further design and research directions are suggested.
This project was my BSc graduation project at the department of Industrial Design at Eindhoven University of Technology. I was supervised by Saskia Bakker and Bart Hengeveld.
