History and future of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design
CalmUnity
Transcript of CalmUnity
Prasanth Veerina, Cayla Pettinato, and Onkur Sen
Virtual group meditation increases personal enjoyment, consistency, and importance
Stressor
I’m doing something
wrong!
The Value of Group Practice“People have a lot of ideas
about what meditation is or isn’t. They feel more
reassured when they hear others talking about it, and it helps to normalize what
students are going through.”
Robert Cusick, CCT Course Instructor
“Being in a group setting is really supportive. When my
classmates share their experience, it gives me something to compare
mine against.”
Claire, MBSR Course Student
HMW
SBTM
Join one 5-10 minute meditation session each day
Prototype 1 (post it)
A User’s Story
Trial Design
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Pre-survey Breathing Stress-relief Body scan Walking Loving-kindness + Post-survey
8 users, age range: 18-22
Attitude Towards Meditation
Check the box for each day of the trial that you meditated:
# Answer %
1 Wednesday (breathing) 50%
2 Thursday (stress-releasing) 75%
3 Friday (body scan) 63%
4 Saturday (walking) 38%
5 Sunday (loving-kindness) 63%
Pre: 100% meditate less than once a month Post: 100% meditated 2/5 days and 50% meditated 3/5 days
Guided meditations
Reflection Board
Seeing other
people
Simple
Commit to time
Lack of meditation
options
Need better reminder
Design
Lack of reflection options
What Users Liked
What Users Didn’t Like
Seeing others = “One day I was busy working and I was going to skip the meditation, but then I saw that 5 or 6 other people were
planning to meditate with me at that time and I didn’t want to let them down. I felt that if they could do it, I could too!”
“I liked seeing other people, especially if they were people I knew. I felt like we were sharing something in common in the
midst of our busy lives.”
Drawing = “I liked being able to see the pictures that everyone else drew at the ends of sessions. It made me feel better knowing that
my experiences aligned with others.”
vs.
“It was cool to have an opportunity for reflection right after exiting meditation, but sometimes it felt a little forced. I didn't
really like having to think of something to draw myself.”
“This is the first time that I have meditated consistently. It is very relaxing. I now bring the simple focus on my breath into other stressful situations to relax.”
User Opinions
Users benefit from group practice even without physical proximity
Users benefit from structure but need flexibility to establish long-term habits
Conclusive NOIs
Next Steps
● More options/user customization (times, reminders, meditations, reflection)
● Do not disturb mode
● Workplace integration?