Ethical Design of Social Technology: User Engagement and Attentional Demands

Fernando L. Montalvo, Michael Miuccio, Grace E. Waldfogle

Source Title: Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society

ISBN13: 9781799864530|ISBN10: 1799864537|ISBN13 Softcover: 9781799864547|EISBN13: 9781799864554

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-6453-0.ch002

MLA

Montalvo, Fernando L., et al. "Ethical Design of Social Technology: User Engagement and Attentional Demands." Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society, edited by Heather Lum, IGI Global, 2021, pp. 20-47. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-6453-0.ch002

APA

Montalvo, F. L., Miuccio, M., & Waldfogle, G. E. (2021). Ethical Design of Social Technology: User Engagement and Attentional Demands. In H. Lum (Ed.), Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society (pp. 20-47). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-6453-0.ch002

Chicago

Montalvo, Fernando L., Michael Miuccio, and Grace E. Waldfogle. "Ethical Design of Social Technology: User Engagement and Attentional Demands." In Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society, edited by Heather Lum, 20-47. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-6453-0.ch002

Export Reference

Favorite

View Full Text HTML

View Full Text PDF

Abstract

Social technology has become ubiquitous in everyday life. Developers of social technologies seek design elements and new technologies, such as machine learning algorithms, aimed at increasing user engagement. Increased user engagement with products or services is sought after by both companies, which benefit from increased sales and customers who desire technology which they are motivated to use. However, increased user engagement also results in increased demand on user attention. High demand on user attention results in problems for social technology users, including decreased task performance, decrements in working memory, increased anxiety, and more. Developers of social technology should take these negative effects on users into account when implementing new features into their products or services. This chapter proposes a framework for the ethical design of social technology, with a specific emphasis on the balance between user engagement and attentional demands on the user.