Emotional Interactions

Emotional interaction is the aspect concerned with how users feel and react while using technologies. It spans from product reveal to product disposal and asks why we become attached to certain products (Rogers, Sharp, & Preece, 2012, p. 128)

Reflections

I experience the full range of emotions when it comes to technology and using it. New product reveals invoke excitement about new features and sometimes new purchases cause some disappointment because they didn’t quite live up to the initial expectations. I get frustrated with old technologies still in use at my job because they can be sluggish. Facebook’s “On This Day” feature makes me sad and miss past experiences, especially when photos of family members I have lost pop up. It can also be embarrassing and make me wonder why I thought it was a good idea to share certain posts. Online shopping can be anxiety-reducing since I hate shopping in stores. All in all, use of technology is not mundane because it touches our emotional side as well as our logical one.

Thoughts 

Emotional interaction is an important aspect to consider during interaction design. We must consider if new features will help improve frustrations or cause more of them. Will new products make users excited enough to use them that they are willing to part with old, tried and true technologies?

References

Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., & Preece, J. (2012). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.



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