Achieving Your Goals Down On The Digital Farm

What if I told you a little digital pet could force couch potatoes off their bums and into jogging gear?

As humans, we don’t always do what’s good for us, often choosing idler pursuits over, say, exercise or self-improvement. Though, I can’t say I’m an offender in this respect myself!

*Cough*

Sometimes, we know what we should be doing but merely don’t do it because we’re too busy, tired, distracted — or simply downright lazy. Other times, our self-neglect stems from a failure to recognise the behaviours necessary for optimum wellbeing, performance and development.

Whatever the case, one of my key interests in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is helping find effective answers to the following question:

How can we enhance the lives of humans through user-centred design?

Across my career, I’ve been using my knowledge of behavioural psychology, applying the theory of behavioural economics to assist in the design of interactive computing systems that satisfy needs users aren’t meeting themselves, or might not even know they have, and that support them in their personal and working lives.