A daily email reminder to use Duolingo-a language learning app.Īccording to behavioral designer (and former Fogg student) Nir Eyal, nearly ⅔ of smartphone users never change their notification settings. The pings, dings, emails, and homescreen filled with red dots that remind you to take some action. When you first download a new app, the only way it has to reach you and set off the trigger is through notifications. Some reminder that gets you to start an action. Because once you get there “you can move mountains.” Triggers: How apps and phones become unshakableįinally, Fogg says none of these behaviors happen without a trigger. Steve Jobs even once explained how making things “simple” was complex, yet all-important. Apple, Android, and every other phone maker understands that for you to use their products they have to be simple and they have to be empowering. It’s not just Facebook and Instagram that work this way. But the real transaction, Fogg explains, is emotional: you get to feel like an artist. Sure, there’s a functional benefit in letting you have control. Or, consider how Instagram lets you try different filters before you post a photo. At this point, do you even have to question how it works? For years, the company has been making its interface easier and more simple to use. The second part of Fogg’s method describes ability-how we have to be able to easily use the product or else we’ll look for something else. Ability: How once you’re “in” apps make it so hard to get out And the sensations you feel when scrolling through the feeds of people you know (happiness, anger, joy, jealousy, love). The anticipation of seeing new and unexpected content every time you open the app. Let’s take Facebook, or really any social media app as an example: There’s the sense of belonging the comes from connecting you with friends. Think about the apps you use on your phone on a regular basis and you can see how they all fit into these categories. ![]() Specifically, Fogg explains that every behavior is rooted in one of three core motivators: Sensation, anticipation, and belonging. The first part of Fogg’s model describes the motivations that drive us to use a product. “In Silicon Valley, Fogg’s model answers one of product designers’ most enduring questions: How do you keep users coming back?” Motivation: Why you reach for your phone without thinking ![]() The “secret” of their success was Fogg’s Behavior Model-a system that explains how we’re driven to act a certain way (in this case, use an app) when three forces converge: Motivation, trigger, and ability.Īs writer Simone Stolzoff wrote in Wired: ![]() Ten weeks later, the students-who included future product designers for Facebook, Google, and Uber-had built apps that had amassed 16 million users, made $1 million in advertising revenue, and had cracked the code for creating apps we just can’t leave alone. If you want to understand where our dependence on smartphones comes from, you need to go back to a Stanford classroom in 2007.Īt the same moment the first iPhone was preparing for launch and Facebook had just opened its platform to 3rd party developers, 75 students began studying under famed behavioral psychologist BJ Fogg. The psychology behind why you check your phone so often Like our phones are using us, rather than the other way around.īut by understanding the psychology behind why we’re so drawn to our phones, we can start to find solutions to break free from their hold on our attention. And so regardless of what number feels closest to your personal usage, they’re all a bit unsettling. We’ve all experienced looking down to see our phone open in our hand and not remembering taking it out. From marketing firm dscout’s claim that we “touch” our phones 2617 per day, to Deloitte’s latest survey that found the average American checks them 46 times.Įven Apple weighed in on our usage, revealing that iPhone users unlock their phones around 80 times every 24 hours. In fact, there’s all sorts of numbers being thrown around to try to quantify our phone time. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t take up a considerable amount of our time and energy each day. It’s probably unfair to say we’re “addicted” to our phones.
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