carolmou

Appearance

Assignment 1: Social Media Needfinding ​

Planning materials ​

Hunch ​

I'd like to explore possibilities for people who have ADD or a short attention span.

Interviewees ​

  • Marco Aurelio (male, 54 years old, ADHD): works with management at a chemical company. He lives in Brazil, which gives me a perspective on the needs in a different country. He's generation X.
  • Nathan Kalman (male, 25 years old, ADD): is an architect. He works remotely, lives in the US, and is generation Z.

Questions ​

  • Can you describe a recent positive or negative experience you've had on social media? What made it stand out?
  • Have you ever encountered frustration while using social media? If so, could you describe the situation that led to your frustration?
  • Can you recall a specific moment when your online presence or engagement on social media brought you joy or happiness?
  • How do you feel about using multiple apps for different purposes, or using different apps to talk to different people?
    • follow-up: "do you catch yourself using different apps at the same time?"
  • Can you share a story of how you or someone you know was hacked or impersonated online?
  • Have you ever had a memorable interaction or connection with someone on social media, whether it's a friend, a stranger, or someone you admire?
  • Can you describe a situation where you found social media to be a valuable source of information or assistance, especially in a challenging or unfamiliar situation?
    • follow-up: "how do you verify the credibility of information you encounter on social media?"
  • Have you ever participated in online movements, campaigns, or charity initiatives through social media? What motivated you to get involved?
  • Do you have any rituals or routines related to your social media use, such as checking specific platforms at certain times or before/after particular events in your day?
  • Could you share an example of something valuable you've learned from social media? How did that knowledge benefit you?
    • follow-up: "have there been instances where social media introduced you to a new hobby, interest, or perspective?"

Raw interview notes ​

Marco Aurelio ​

  • Politics in the family group chat invariably leads to conflicts, so you end up dividing. I had this experience in the Alvarenga [his family] family, in the group of friends of my street.
  • I use it daily, mainly Instagram.
  • I don't have anything to complain about Instagram, because I have my preferences, my favorites, so it already selects the themes I like more. I think Instagram is extremely fun and educative, full of English tips, or Excel tips, that I like, Excel formulas.
  • I seek social media to learn something from it. I don't like gossip, show my life, what I'm eating, where I am. It's completely about learning.
    • mentioned "gossip", "show my life", "what I'm eating" with certain disdain: believes those people are superficial?
  • I have all my profiles private. I only have followers I know and I follow people I know. So I don't take any action in regard to privacy.
  • I don't react in social media, I just use it as a source of information. I don't reply, I don't react, I don't publish, I rarely comment. I'm a passive person.
  • I multitask, but I don't like it, because I'm not good at working in more than a single thing. I lose focus. Naturally I end up doing it. Happens a lot during work.
  • Unless the movie is super good, every 20 minutes I take it out to see if I have any message.
  • When I have my phone in hand, I end up distracting myself in various aspects. I isolate myself from the environment, and I pay less attention to what's happening around me.
  • Every app has to be dedicated to a certain task. I'm in favor of the existence of apps reserved to certain tasks; there are some I use more, and some I use less, but all of them are necessary.
  • Through WhatsApp, he pretended to be me. He copied my photograph from Facebook, entered WhatsApp, and asked my mom money to pay some bills. She did give him the money.
  • Ze [his parrot] only sees Bela's [his daughter] cockatiels. I really, really wanted to find another parrot to spend some time with Ze.
  • If I had the chance, I'd let her [Ze] do anything with other animals, other people, if she'd wanted it.
  • I like going outside with her. I listen to music, while she's quietly enjoying the breeze on her face. To be outside.
    • extremely affectionate. Used so many diminutives to talk about his parrot.
  • I had a memorable interaction with the friends I didn't see in a long time. For instance, I have friends from the fraternity I used to be in, with whom I lived but had lost contact. We started talking again, and the friendship reborn.
  • I participate in my company's campaigns. We have groups for warm clothing drive, food campaigns... We promote all of that through WhatsApp.
  • I learn so much from social media. Especially Instagram; I take so much information from economics, investment, that I use and like. Teachings from my area in engineering and economics and investments.
  • My usage of social media is completely random.
  • I like those messages that people write, people who give tips of a better day, food habits and related to behavior, mainly. Mainly professional.
  • I use several apps at the same time. Sometimes I'm listening to YouTube at the same time I'm using Google Maps, quite common.

Nathan ​

  • In Twitter, I was called **** [derogatory name for jewish people] for being jew. That made me really upset.
  • I use social media daily for 0.5 to 2 hours; 4h in the weekend. I use primarily Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
  • I uninstalled Twitter once; people just want to be right. People don't listen to each other. You make the people across the screen invisible.
  • I turned my Twitter and Instagram accounts private. Twitter was getting on my nerves. I would spend a lot of time stuck in discussions with strangers, so I would forget to reply my friends.
  • I want my brain to become jam. I want distraction. Fill the void in my soul.
  • I talk to other people while I work, now I listen to podcasts while work... I have a lot of work, right? I always listen to music. I am unable to do a single thing.
  • Oh, Carol, you know I have ADD. When the movie is showing "produced by this person" I'm already on my phone. My attention span was horrible during the pandemic, I only had my phone, I couldn't talk to people.
    • acted frustrated, like this is a question we've been over already, or like it's a well-known fact he can't pay attention to anything.
  • My behavior changes from an app to another. Like, the way I watch Reels on Instagram is different from the way I watch TikTok. I like the app's separations. I think it's healthy. Otherwise, if you get tired of an app, you get tired of everything.
  • I was never hacked, but I do know people who have been. My aunt's account was hacked, and they tried to advertise their product. Then she deactivated Instagram. But then she came back.
  • When I entered the Percy Jackson side on TikTok. I thought it was silly to like it, but there are lots of people who also do. People who like the same stuff as you.
    • said it kind of scared that I'd judge him for liking Percy Jackson.
  • Was part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
  • Always checks social media in the morning.
  • Learned how to paint through YouTube.

Interview reports ​

Marco Aurelio ​

Seems to have a practical approach to social media - he stressed that he only uses it for educative and professional purposes. However, when asked about entertainment, he mentioned watching some funny videos, although he seemed embarrassed about it and quickly moved on to another topic. Furthermore, he sounded very emotional about reconnecting with his childhood friends, so it seems like he also uses it for talking to people. It's interesting how he would be ashamed of admitting he used an app that was purely entertainment.

What stood out for me was, when talking about his mom being deceived online (and losing $2,600!), he showed no emotion. He briefly mentioned his daughter but extensively talked about his parrot in an affectionate way: "I listen to music, while she's quietly enjoying the breeze on her face". He also doesn't practice any sport. It seems that, when he comes back from work, he devotes all his time to his parrot and navigating online, things that relax him. He said that "sometimes, I get so absorbed in my phone that I don't perceive my surroundings,", which contrasted with the fact that he can't avoid but multitask (although he wishes not to do so, because it interferes with his work).

Nathan Kalman ​

Nathan told me he was very active in discussions on Twitter, and even was a target of hate speech. The gratitude he feels towards TikTok is due mostly to the Percy Jackson community he found there, something he thought he'd be judged in real life for liking (he was shy to tell me). He said he mostly uses social media to talk to his friends who are far away, but, from the discussions and the Percy Jackson community he found, I suspect he interacts more with strangers, seeking a sense of belonging.

Nathan got a bit annoyed when I asked about multitasking. He mentioned having ADD and seemed dissatisfied with the fact, like he multitasks but wished to not do so. On the other hand, he uses social media to distract himself. In his own words, "I want my brain to become jam. I want distraction. Fill the void in my soul." (he laughed and jokingly asked me to not write that down).

Design opportunities ​

  • Create a space where unhealthy discussions won't come up: something that both of the interviewees cited as their main issue with social networks is the polarization and divergences (Marco said: "politics in the family group chat invariably leads to conflicts"). Nathan, on the other hand, uninstalled Twitter for the amount of time he spent on discussions, which wasn't doing him any good. He prefers places where "people like the same stuff as you." I envision that an app that somehow doesn't give the space for harmful divisions will serve as an effective antidote to the toxicity often associated with impassioned discussions.
  • An activity that isn't harmful when multitasking: both Marco and Nathan say they naturally multitask, even though neither is good at it. Both of them work a lot, and they find time to use social media either while they work or when they want to get off work, in which case their brain is already tired. (Nathan: "I want my brain to become jam," and Marco: "I lose focus. Naturally I end up doing it [multitasking]".) I believe that, to attend modern short attention spans, an app shouldn't require a lot of brain and can be used simultaneously with other things, specially work, without being harmful.
  • Covers a wide set of niches, without being known only by one: Marco expressed a necessity of making it clear that he uses social media for educative purposes. He said "I don't like gossip, show my life, what I'm eating, where I am," with disdain. Still, he uses the "educative" part of Instagram, app that serves other purposes beyond personal pictures. However, he didn't mention TikTok, an app known specially for its entertainment purposes. The logical solution would be an exclusively educational app, although it wouldn't cover other interests - Nathan uses social media for distraction, so his brain can "become jam". But, if the app inadvertently leaned too heavily towards entertainment, Marco wouldn't use it. And, if it came across as purely educative, Nathan's tired brain wouldn't use it. This way, the app has to cover a wide set of niches and equally well.