Full Writeup
Link to Our Full Final Writeup
Summary
People regularly stay up late despite knowing the consequences. This phenomenon is called bedtime procrastination and it is due to poor self-regulation rather than external obligations. In fact, 59% of Gen Z report staying up late scrolling despite knowing they should sleep. Through this intervention design and prototyping project, we hope to provide a mechanism for changing this destructive habit for our target audience of Gen Zers.
To address the problem of bedtime procrastination among Gen Z, we first needed to understand why existing solutions fall short. High-activation tools like the Oura Ring or Brick demand effort from users who are already mentally depleted at night, while low-activation options like Apple’s native bedtime feature offer only reminders without addressing the underlying emotional need. The real driver of bedtime procrastination is not a lack of information; scrolling provides more immediate dopamine than the distant benefit of feeling rested tomorrow, and sleep deprivation only weakens the self-control needed to do better the next night.
Our proposed intervention is SleepPea, a low-friction, emotionally aware app that addresses bedtime procrastination through social accountability and gentle habit-building. The core feature, Sleep Pods, turns bedtime into a team effort: users join a small group of friends, lock in a bedtime together, and watch a shared digital garden grow or wither based on how well the pod hits its sleep goals. Streaks reward consistency over perfection, celebrating progress rather than punishing slip-ups. Our key design decisions centered on keeping activation cost as low as possible, using quick onboarding, kind nudges, and gentle morning reflections to make the experience feel supportive rather than demanding. In the following document, we have detailed our research, design process, and final prototype for addressing bedtime procrastination among Generation Z.
