Technology exists to empower people.
When we start using products out of habit and not leveraging them to create value or meaning in our life, we’re essentially wasting our time by using them. Time that could be spent creating, loving, or learning.
This may seem like our fault, but many products are designed to be addictive. Humans crave ego-justification and when products feed this need, we continue to use them.
I don’t think social media is a bad thing. I actually think a lot of people find comfort in it, myself included. I’ve used it to make friends and meet people around the world that have shaped the way I think. I do, however, think moral gamification could improve the products we use on a daily basis by making them more intentional.
Traditional gamification leverages people’s natural tendencies for competition and ego to build more engaging products. I don’t think this is inherently unethical. Throwing a leaderboard or a badging system into an app doesn’t make it addicting. I do think there are elements to gamification that can make it addicting in certain contexts. Once these behaviors are built, it’s really hard to overcome them with future product iterations.
For example, I don’t think removing likes on Instagram will have any sort of positive outcome. The behavior of posting hyper-curated content is already there. Even if people can’t see the likes, they’ve already been trained to post for others instead of for themselves.
One way Instagram could implement moral gamification could be to encourage positivity on the app. Instead of fighting for likes, make the experience of leaving positive comments more delightful. Reward people for behaviors of kindness and appreciation.
One app that does moral gamification really well is Headspace.
Headspace encourages building on the practice of mindfulness by showing progression. It has a streak-counter, similar to Snapchat, that shows how many days in a row you participated in meditation. It also shows how many hours you’ve meditated, sessions completed, and average duration. Positive progression and improvement plays to our need for self-actualization, which sits at the very top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Another product that does this really well is Wealthfront. They encourage positive habits like saving by forecasting net-worth trajectory based on current savings trends.
Gamification doesn’t have to be predatory. We can use moral gamification to build products that encourage positive habits and appreciation. As we continue to design products for the next generation, it’ll be even more important to ensure our technology is there to empower us, not distract us.