Are Users Aware of What They Are Truly Consuming When Using Digital Products?
Examining how educating users on dark UX patterns that are utilized in their most commonly used digital products affects users’ digital media consumption.
Jocelyn L. Gilbertson
Design Studies, Iowa State University | DSN S-501: Introduction to Research Design, Dr. Daejin Kim
August 4th, 2023
Introduction
The public introduction to digital devices in the late 20th century has changed the way people function in their daily lives. The modernization and public adoption of cell phones, personal computers, social media, and other digital communication methods have caused both positive and negative side effects in individuals. In today's world, it is incredibly difficult for those who have adopted this technology to stray away from the habits of using their devices. The progression of avid dependency on devices has impacted the way people function, in interpersonal relationships as well as intrapersonally. Although technological use of devices has created more efficient and often enhanced personal methods of connection with people, there has also been documented effects of mental and emotional consequences related to dependency and social harm. UX design has been cited to play a significant role in these effects. In this paper, UX design in technological devices and its methods will be examined. Ultimately, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, through references and additional research, the emotional effects and cognitive understanding of users who experience dark UX design patterns while using technology..
When considering the effects of devices, the impacts of the user experience and user interface must be considered. Commonly referred to as ‘UX design,’ user experience design is defined as “the process design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. UX design involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability and function (Interaction Design Foundation, 1).” User design is used to create all digital interfaces and experiences. The goal of UX design is to create engaging, enjoyable and usable products that users will want to continue using.
However, many interfaces are designed with ‘dark UX pattern’ intentionalities. Dark UX is defined as “any unethical web design trick designed to confuse and deceive users. It forces visitors to take actions, often against their conscious knowledge, to benefit the business. This may mean asking for more information than is relevant to a transaction, eliminating important navigation elements to reduce site abandonment, or opting users into receiving promotions by default (Stewart, 1).” Dark UX is characterized in its design by the intentionality to be confusing, deceptive, or otherwise steer a user in a different direction than they originally intended to. It is important to separate dark UX patterns from bad UX design. Dark UX and bad UX can be similar, and create mirrored effects, but they are not necessarily the same. Bad UX is defined as “a design that fails to provide users with a positive experience while interacting with a product or service (Hannah, 1).” It is differentiated by its characteristic of being accidental, not intentional. Bad UX simply is confusing or difficult for the user’s experience, due to poor design choices, but bad UX is unintentional. Dark UX, in contrast, is intentional.
Although designers are trained, educated, and instructed in various ethics to employ while designing user experiences and interfaces to avoid deceiving users, dark UX continues to exist and proliferate in various formats. Users may question why dark UX even exists and why do UX patterns continue to infiltrate some of the most popular apps, websites, and social media services. When designing products, designers must receive ‘buy-in’ (or approval) from stakeholders to have their product/design funded and developed. When discussing ethics in UX design, Chivukula states (in relation to their study about UX design and ethics in regards to managing stakeholder values and requests) “In many cases, user values were acknowledged, only then to be leveraged in persuading users towards stakeholder-directed outcomes, activating potentially dark intentions on the part of the designer (Chivukula, 90).” For their own job security and success, designers are pressured into creating products with dark UX tactics, thus putting them in a moral dilemma. The dilemma of doing what is “right” or morally ethical is challenged by work success and the company’s financial gain. Since most companies that exist in capitalistic markets have the priority of sales, growth and profit as their financial objective, the user’s experience and satisfaction is minimized. Therefore, deceptive designs continue to be developed and deployed to users.
In my opinion, dark UX should not be hidden from users. The existence of dark UX should be brought to their attention to enhance awareness and control over how they consume media and how media is presented to them, resulting in a conscious choice to continue to use products that ultimately cause harm.
This research proposal references prior scholarly works and literature that examines the relationships that users have with user interfaces and designs. Studies have shown these designs affect users in multiple ways: it impacts mood, attention span, and how digital media is consumed.. These studies also show and examine dark UX patterns that are designed with the intention of gaining financial profit or increased user activity, which creates habits in users that mirror traits of addiction. Numerous dark UX patterns are in existence on some of the most popular apps, so users are likely to have encountered them already, without even being aware of doing so. Users can become accustomed to the addictive cycle of “click-reward-repeat” that many dark UX patterns are formed upon within digital interfaces which leaves users dependent on the interaction out of habit. This may even create addiction to other digital products, depending on the users prior knowledge of other comparable apps, and if these comparable apps utilize similar design choices that ‘hook’ users.
This study aims to answer the question: Are users consciously aware of what they are consuming when using digital products? This study examines how educating users on dark UX patterns that are utilized in their most commonly-used digital products affects their digital media consumption.
I hypothesize that if components of dark UX patterns are used in conjunction with user interface design choices, then these will affect participants’ emotional or mental well-being, and may impact their interpersonal relationships. If users are educated about dark UX intentions and examine their reactions emotionally, they may recognize the negative impact these experiences have had on their lives and be able to alter their behavior differently. If they are taught common tactics that dark UX patterns utilize to manipulate them and cause habitual behaviors, individuals may feel differently about their favorite or most used digital products. If components of dark UX patterns are used in conjunction with user interface design choices, then these will affect a participants’ emotional state or mental processing of the content on these digital products. It has the potential to impact their interpersonal relationships by making users feel connected to others (digitally), but ironically leaves them isolated in real life and lacking human connection.
Literature
There are commonly used dark UX patterns the average user may not realize when they have been targeted. On occasion, users may even enjoy dark UX patterns without realizing it.
An example of this is when Tiktok users cannot see the time on the top of their screen while they are using the application (app), so they fall into a pattern of ‘doom scrolling/surfing,’ which can be generalized as losing track of time while scrolling or consuming large amounts of content. When questioned, users have noted that they have found themselves using the app for hours without realizing it. Tiktok’s content is made to be short-form (30 seconds to 1 minute long) and be able to be consumed by users easily at a moment's notice. Since this content is short-form, it makes the user feel like they’re spending less time on the app then they really are, thus they tend to scroll for minutes, or even hours, when they did not open the app with the intention to do so. “Addictive digital experiences are built around habit loops or “routines” formed over time by repeating a behavior (e.g. checking your phone) paired with recurring cues (e.g. a notification that a friend liked your last post) and rewards (e.g. the sense of fulfillment created by being socially accepted). In fact, most interactive digital experiences we use everyday are habit-forming. For example, Facebook uses a push notification system to routinise users for accessing it multiple times throughout the day. Although they feel “rewarding”, many habit loops engender compulsive and even self-destructive behaviors. (Various authors) listed the negative effects of addiction to digital experiences (Chianella, 3-4).” Similarly, Instagram uses design methods of hierarchy and color differentiation to attract users. This enhances users to click ‘make ads more personalized’ by making the text box bright blue, adding a drop shadow to make it pop, and placing it at the bottom of the screen where the touch targets for buttons are best. Consequently, the ‘don’t personalize ads more’ button is in the same grey color as the background,is smaller, and not as prominent as the highlighted box, causing the user to be unaware the choice is even present. Because of the drastic contrast, it may cause a user to push a button they may not have originally intended to (see figure 1).
Other popular dark UX methods are targeted at users, for profit practices. “Bait and Switch” is done when fake data or information is put forward that demonstrates a user’s interest. When the user shows interest and moves ahead by clicking, the information or data changes altogether. Bait and switch is a trick that businesses generally use to get more clicks. One bait and switch dark UX example is the Windows 10 dialog box, where clicking X results in initializing the upgrade. Others include hidden fees that don't appear until the final stage of the checkout process, or ads that are ‘hidden’, thereby not stating they are sponsored content/ ads, so they look like organic media (Khindri, 2:1) (see figure 2).”
There are other methods that are used to enable habit-forming actions in users to ensure their return to, or continued use of the app or service. These include tactics like “social proof”, which explains success stories to make the user feel more confident because other users similar to them have used it with success. Additionally, triggering fear of missing out (FOMO), is used to keep a user engaged by telling them there’s “only a few left” to finish an activity, or to loop them into a habit of constantly refreshing a social media/communication app to ensure they aren’t being left out by their peers (Khindri, 2:9-10).”
Arguably, one of the most powerful marketing tactics is to capitalize on human emotion. This includes concepts such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where love and belonging are notated as the next most essential needs to basic needs like food, water, shelter, and safety. Social media companies and designers who employ dark UX patterns have found that FOMO plays a large part in the modern person’s reflection of their sense of love and belonging. “It could be hypothesized that Instagram employs features that provide the highest levels of recognition and social needs in the form of likes, comments, views, and other forms of engagement, which are the key drivers of compulsive Instagram use. In addition to social and recognition needs, the research has found that the need for connectedness (Cao, Gong, Yu, & Dai, 2020) and fear of missing out (Moore & Craciun, 2021) are compelling drivers of compulsive Instagram use. It can be speculated that design strategies used to promote habit formation of social media usage, such as integrating various triggers and rewards in the user interfaces, align with psychological and sociopsychological demands that support compulsive Instagram use (Bucyte, 13-14).”
Methods
This study would include a pre-participation screening, semi-structured interviews, diary/feedback centered activities, and an end survey.
This study would gather 250-500 participants. These participants would have various demographic qualities to eliminate as much bias as possible, and account for how different geographical locations (within the United States), gender, race, ethnicity, age and other personal attributes affect their experiences and answers. I would personally choose to employ a service such as DScout, which is a respected and trustworthy user research company that exchanges user participation for a cash incentive on an easy-to-use, well designed platform with great customer/user support. It also creates a clear and organized line of communication between the researcher and the participant, which enables a higher quality of organization and understanding to both parties. By utilizing a service like DScout, I (the researcher) would ensure that the various demographic needs as listed above are met and would be categorized methodically by a computer service, which can easily track and manage participants and their data. This would also allow me to save a large amount of time that would have been spent seeking participants, and allow me to use this time to instead analyze participant data and input.
This entire study would be done via DScout, with participants agreeing prior to beginning the survey to meet with me via virtual meeting if requested. Additionally, at the end of the pre-screening questionnaire application, I would ask the user to submit a 1 minute video. In this video, the user would be asked to “please detail a time you felt tricked or deceived by an application, ad, or social media post. Where did this happen? What was the context/what were you trying to accomplish? What did you think was going to happen vs. what actually happened? How were you deceived? How did you feel after this occurred?” By asking the user to submit a video entry, this would give me the opportunity to do multiple things: hear their reply, determine if their responses are objective and provide good information to use, read their body language, filter participants to those who provide better or more insightful answers than others, and pick possible candidates to conduct follow-up individual virtual interviews with.
For the semi-structured interviews, the interview questions would address the objectives of the first step of the study, which would be to gain understanding and perspective of how the participants perceive themselves and their digital activity. This would facilitate the discussion and insights provided by the participants. The interviews would include predetermined, open-ended questions. These questions would include questions such as: “please select the social media apps you regularly use or are familiar with using?” (checkbox response); “of these apps, which 3 do you use the most often?” (checkbox response); “what is your opinion of social media app 1” (radio button response with answers ranging from very negative/untrustworthy, somewhat negative/untrustworthy, neutral, somewhat positive/trustworthy, very positive/trustworthy with a follow up open-ended question of “why do you feel that way?” (for each of the 3 social media apps, this would be repeated). I would also have an open-ended question asking “what their favorite app or social media platform was and why, what their opinions of the brand were, and how much they like this brand on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best),” as well as asking “why do you feel this way about this brand?”
After this, the next set of activities would be referenced from “The Dark (Patterns) Side of UX Design by Colin M. Gray, Yubo Kou, Bryan Battles, Joseph Hoggatt, and Austin L. Toombs, pages 3-8 (Gray, 3-8).” See figure 3, which would be an introduction to participants to these common design themes used in dark UX.
I would utilize the definitions of terms provided on page 3 to explain common topics to the participants. For each item, I would display the type of pattern and the definition/explanation. This would be followed by the questions of: “have you experienced this before?” (radio buttons with yes or no responses), followed by an open-ended response if the participant answered yes, and then ask “on what app did you experience this? What was the scenario? How did it make you feel?” (this would be asked for each of the 12 types of dark UX listed on page 3).
Next, I would utilize the figures from pages 5-6 of the same referenced work (as well as gathering similar additional figures) to then display to the user. I would display two competing figures (see figure 4, which is figure 5 in the referenced work), and have an open ended question asking the user what they believe this function pictured would do. I would then show a short screen recording of what this function actually does. Then, I would follow with a second open-ended response question asking the user if they believe that this is an honest design/if they trust this design (radio button with three response options of non-trustworthy, neutral/no opinion, or trustworthy), then to elaborate in an open-ended response on why they answered that way.
For the final part of the study, I would ask the same open-ended question I did in the pre-survey questions: “what is their favorite app or social media platform and why, what their opinions of the brand are, and how much they like this brand on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best). However, I would also ask another open-ended question after this that said “did your feelings about this brand or another brand change from before you took this survey to now? Why?” I would like to see if their answer/s are consistent with the pre-survey answers, or if having insight into dark UX patterns would impact their opinions of the digital products they commonly use.
Finally, participants whose videos stood apart from others in quality of answer, objective insight, or another similar positive attribute of a great participant would be selected for follow-up interviews with an extra financial incentive for participating. Participants would be asked questions such as “tell me about a time when you felt tricked from an app, social media post, ad, or other digital content. Do you feel it used a certain method to trick you?” This is a rephrased question from the pre-screening, but with the additional question of terminology being asked. I would like to ask it again to see if the user gives the same answer as they did in the pre-screening (as I hypothesize that after participating in this study, participants may possibly have gained additional insight in relation to their digital activity, and their perspective may have shifted), and if they begin to use any terminology that was demonstrated to them throughout the study. I believe users will give answers to these questions that will report a measurable difference with a negative trend in their opinions on the digital products they use and in the digital media they consume. This will be displayed when comparing the pre-study assessment in comparison to the post-study assessment, as well as the results of the core study itself.
References
Bucyte, S. (2023). Habit or addiction? A qualitative exploration of Instagram and addictive design characteristics. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/122084/bachelor_Bucyte_Solveiga_2023.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Chianella, R. (2021). Addictive digital experiences: the influence of artificial intelligence and more-than- human design. https://pdf.blucher.com.br/designproceedings/ead2021/125.pdf
Chivukula, S. S., Brier, J., & Gray, C. M. (2018). Dark Intentions or Persuasion? Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility - DIS ’18. https://doi.org/10.1145/3197391.3205417
Gray, C. M., Kou, Y., Battles, B., Hoggatt, J., & Toombs, A. L. (2018). The Dark (Patterns) Side of UX Design. Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’18, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174108
Hannah, J. (2019, May 2). 10 Bad UX Design Fails We’ve Seen in Tech. Careerfoundry.com. https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/10-classic-ux-design-fails/#:~:text=Bad%20UX%20design%20refers%20to
Interaction Design Foundation. (2019). What is User Experience (UX) Design? The Interaction Design Foundation. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/ux-design
Khindri, D. (2021, July 9). 10 Common Dark Patterns in UX and How to Avoid Them. Insights - Web and Mobile Development Services and Solutions. https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/dark-patterns-in-ux-disadvantages/#what-are-some-common-types-of-dark-patterns
Stewart, M. (2020, November 16). What Is the Dark UX? Www.thecreativemomentum.com. https://www.thecreativemomentum.com/blog/what-is-the-dark-ux