Design Fiction
Our project is an app that reminds high schoolers to stay focused using periodic “attention chimes”. Our design fiction, presented through a TikTok reel, shows a world where this app is widely adopted and embedded in everyday routine. People are so reliant on the app to stay focused that they cannot stay on task without it. Consequently, in spaces both public and private, everyone has the app active on a phone beside them, and attention chimes are constantly sounding and being reset instantly as people work. In a dystopian take, their routines become obsessions as they begin to use the app to regulate not only their work, but also their leisure time and private lives, such as time spent chatting and consoling friends. Our goal is to explore some of the potential negative effects of being too dependent on our service. The ethical implication is that, while practical in moderation, relying on the app too much compartmentalizes and stifles peoples’ lives.
