ATTENTION CAPTURE
damaging patterns
Exploration of recurring patterns in digital interfaces that exploit psychological vulnerabilities and capture attention, often leading the user to lose track of their goals, lose their sense of time and control, and later feel regret.
Categorizing Damaging Design Patterns
Mechanisms
Techniques used to exploit users’ psychological vulnerabilities
Impacts
Effects that ACDPs may have on users’ digital wellbeing
Seductive Design
User interface crafted to trick users into doing things
Deceptive Design
User interface that tempts the user with short-term satisfaction
Types of Damaging Design Patterns
Infinite Scroll
As the user scrolls down a page, more content automatically and continuously loads at the bottom
Casino Pull-to-Refresh
When the user swipes down on their smartphone, there is an animated reload of the page that may or may not reveal new appealing content
Never-Ending Autoplay
A new video is automatically played when the current one finishes, and the option to turn off autoplay is hidden or non-existent
Disguised Ads & Recommendations
Advertisements and recommendations are disguised as normal content into social networks’ newsfeeds
Fake Social Notifications
Platforms send messages pretending to be another user or push notifications about some content the user has never interacted with
Attentional Roach Motel
Registering to and accessing attention-capture digital services is easy, while operations like logout or canceling an account are painfully difficult
Guilty Pleasure Recommendations
Personalized suggestions target user’s guilty pleasures and increase use time
Playing by Appointment
Users are forced to use a digital service at specific times, otherwise the user may loose points or achievements
Recapture Notifications
Notifications are deliberately sent to recapture users’ attention and have them start a new usage session