In recent years, excessive late-night phone use has increased alongside the rise of social media and short-form content. This habit impairs sleep quality and delays sleep onset through heightened emotional arousal and light exposure. The root of this issue is taking the phone to bed, which perpetuates the same cycle of screen time first thing in the morning.
This project aimed to develop a physical product that introduces friction to using a phone in bed, enabling users to achieve their aspired evening and morning routines. Using an iterative rapid prototyping approach, the project identified key opportunities and challenges in changing this behaviour. Insights revealed significant hurdles like low willpower, reachability, cravings for easy entertainment, and a lack of an alternative habit. Ultimately, the research argued that the solution must be grounded in the environmental design of the bedroom, where the target behaviour becomes the path of least resistance.
In collaboration with design studio New Things Lab, this led to Unwind, an alarm clock that eliminates the dependency on using a phone as an alarm. It addresses the user hurdles both explicitly, by refusing to set the alarm while the phone is nearby, and implicitly, by promoting an unwind ritual including breathing exercises, ambient light, and audio. Early testing showed potential, though real habit change takes longer to form than the project could test.
Ultimately, this project contributes to the field of slow technology by offering an opposing force to an ever-connected world, encouraging users to rethink their relationship with their devices.
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