Are Persuasive Design Technologies applicable to Windows?
As passionate about Information and Communication Technologies, and Computing and Information Technology in general, without a doubt, I tend to see and emphasize in primacy, like many, the good side of Science and Technology in every aspect of Human Society, throughout its existence. However, as an experienced Technologist in many areas of this field of human knowledge, and currently as an IT Teacher for young people in secondary education, I tend to be more balanced and impartial when it comes to promoting the use of ICT. Since, it is evident to everyone, that Everything has its good side and its bad side, and precisely the latter must also be made known when it comes to young people in training and in full growth.
And for this reason, these days I have given my students a little insight into the topic of "Persuasive Design Technologies (PDT)" on electronic devices (desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones, tablets and other smart devices), their operating systems (Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android mainly), applications and other social networking and instant messaging platforms and services. Just like today, I will do through this fabulous online digital medium (which is Desde Linux) to raise awareness about this topic. But, focusing a little more on how these techniques or technologies have been used to prevent a significant group of users from stopping using the most widely used and well-known commercial, proprietary and closed operating systems in favor of free and open ones like GNU/Linux.
IT Security Tips for Everyone Anytime
But, before starting to comment on this point of view on the aforementioned «Persuasive Design Technologies», we recommend you explore a Previous post related to computer security and cybersecurity, at the end of it:
Are Persuasive Design Technologies Applicable in Windows and Other Operating Systems?
What are Persuasive Design Technologies?
Before starting to delve into this question, and for those less familiar with the term or concept called «Persuasive Design Technologies (PDT)»Without going into too much detail or technical complexity, we can describe them as follows:
Persuasive design technologies are those that, through specific design elements and functionalities, seek to influence user behavior. They are based on psychological and sociological principles to motivate people to perform certain actions or behaviors, such as buying a product, using a specific service, changing a habit, and even spending as much time as possible using a certain technology (physical or digital).
Examples of persuasive design technologies
And for more details, we could add that, good examples of these technologies most commonly used on social media applications and platforms, video games and multimedia content Some of them are like the following:
Basics
- Smart, automated, and pop-up notifications: Also called Push Notifications, they usually refer to those visual or multimedia messages that appear on the screen of our digital devices without us having to open the application to which they belong. These are usually highly effective in capturing the attention of almost any user, generating an immediate and conditioned response in the same over time.
- Emotional and social design: These are those that focus on adding visual, sound and textual elements to the daily user experience that evoke positive emotions in users, creating an emotional connection with the product or service; and encourage digital and social interaction and collaboration between users, or users and the application or device.
- Customization capabilities: These are those that seek to provide advanced or flexible capabilities, manual or automated, that allow the user's experience to be adapted based on simple things such as their own preferences and tastes; or more complex things such as their browsing history, physical location, individual data (personal, family, work and educational), among others. In order to generate a unique and familiar feeling of personalization, use and relevance, as opposed to others.
You advanced
- Gamification Strategies: These are techniques that incorporate elements of games and video games (scores, rewards, levels, etc.) into non-recreational applications and services in order to encourage user participation and motivation regarding what is being promoted or disseminated.
- Feelings of scarcity and authority: These are those that seek to create feelings of urgency, limitations, exhaustion or elimination of something to encourage actions such as quick and brief consultations, purchases or any other significant interaction of use. These are also usually accompanied by the use of testimonials or opinions from experts, celebrities or well-known media figures to generate support and approval or rejection and denial.
- Reciprocity and Commitment: These are those that usually offer something of value (real or virtual, tangible or intangible) to the user to generate a feeling of indebtedness, in order to increase the probability that the user will carry out a predetermined action. These can also work in the opposite direction, that is, seeking that users initially make small initial commitments (actions or payments) to increase the probability of long-term commitments.
Benefits and consequences
At this point, we could easily deduce both the good and bad intentions as well as the possible potential of this type of technology on users of them. But, to make them clearer and more concise, we will briefly mention and describe some of them, such as the following:
Benefits
- Achieve greater engagement or commitment from users with certain applications and services.
- Deliver greater user satisfaction by achieving more personalized and relevant experiences.
- Increase the likelihood that users will take specific desired actions, especially purchases.
- Promote new specific habits, which can range from health, nutrition, personal care to investment.
Consequences
- Promoting digital addiction to devices, applications and services to the detriment of other healthier activities.
- Facilitate violations of user privacy and anonymity through abusive data collection.
- Increase the levels of disinformation and fake news on issues and policies, in faster and more effective ways.
- Achieve manipulation of user decisions and actions in favor of commercial and business interests.
How has Windows changed and will change over time thanks to “Persuasive Design Technologies (PDT)”?
To finish this post about the effect that certain "TDP over Windows" in order to avoid the daily and final loss of users on it and stay at the forefront, it is important to make clear that, added to the traditional resistance to change and the fact of having to face a new learning curve of other operating systems, the application of these technologies has made Windows, from version 8 to the current version 11 and the future version 12, an increasingly complex, online, interactive, social and intelligent operating system.
Windows, an operating system with many more pop-up notifications and social technologies
That is, to avoid losing market and users, Windows has now become an operating system with many more pop-up notifications., needing to be connected to the Internet and users' social networks, enabling a user experience closer to a mobile operating system, and being more and better integrated into video games, its application/game purchase store, to the new Artificial Intelligence tools, and to the latest hardware such as the most modern GPUs and the latest NPUs.
And this is not just something that has been passing over Windows, but also over OS X and iOS, and Android. Therefore, these Persuasive Design Technologies on these operating systems, their applications and games, are reaching uncontrollable and immeasurable levels, with serious and disastrous consequences, above all, on the health and prosperous future of children and adolescents.
For this and more, the use free and open operating systems, applications, games, and social networking and instant messaging services based on the GNU project, Linux and BSD or similar, it is still one of the best options for to combat in a healthy way the abusive and excessive use of persuasive design technologies and their intolerable negative effects on us, our loved ones and those close to us.
"Big corporations use marketing to trick us into believing that the solution to all our problems lies in buying more of their stuff. The real solution is often the exact opposite: it is to consume less, not more. In most cases, our problems are caused by binge drinking in the first place." Pavel Durov, creator of Telegram
Summary
In short, let us never forget that not only does technology (computer and information technology) have its good and bad sides, but that many advances and good or benign aspects of technologies, especially those designed for daily and massive use by users, may contain “Persuasive design technologies” applied in an intentionally abusive way. With the aim of making us use certain desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones, tablets and other smart devices with certain operating systems, applications and content more, for the benefit of the big tech corporations and its customers (advertisers/sponsors). Even knowing that, this can cause great harm in the future to the development, growth, health, success and prosperity of people. Especially the youngest (boys, girls and adolescents).
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