Design Psychology

Most of us, whether we believe that digital technologies are “good” or “bad” for us, will have found ourselves feeling enslaved by them at some point. Pressures to keep up with a constant stream of e-mails, social validation (or lack thereof) provided by friends on social media, or gamification features keeping us hooked to applications are all anecdotal examples of how technology can help make us feel anxious, stressed, and even depressed.

This edition of our Technical Digest series addresses how digital technologies, platforms, and services could be created with our mental health in mind.

Author Dr Nejra Van Zalk is a member of the Dyson School of Engineering at Imperial College London.