[Book Sip] Anxious About Missing Alarms... Suffering from 'FOMO'

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others instantly resonate with the reader’s heart, creating a connection with the book. Here, we excerpt and introduce such meaningful sentences from books. - Editor’s note

Why are we obsessed with ‘likes’? Why do we fall for fake news so easily? Are the choices I make truly my own? Netflix, YouTube, Spotify... Why can’t we cancel so many subscription services? This is a guide revealing the principles of behavioral psychology and marketing hidden in design, explained by a UX design expert. It unveils the design and principles behind the ‘design traps’ that manipulate our choices.

● ‘Likes’ make us watch longer and more

People work harder when given an ‘unpredictable reward.’ We constantly check SNS to see friends’ ‘likes’ or ‘comments’ that we don’t know when we will receive or might have missed. The intermittent dopamine rewards received through SNS make users obsessed, which leads to addiction.

● Red circle notifications make the heart race

Notification functions are useful for delivering information that might be missed, but companies exploit them by sending continuous notifications even for unimportant content to make users use the service more. The problem is that this strategy causes ‘addiction’ and ‘anxiety’ in users. Many users experience the ‘FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)’ phenomenon, anxiously worrying about missing notifications or overlooked information.

Design traps cannot be solved by regulation alone. Regulating all design traps is equivalent to regulating all design. The boundary of design traps is ambiguous. Therefore, Professor Yoon Jae-young emphasizes the importance of questions about the essence of design and design ethics. It is important that designers, users, and companies each play their roles in their respective positions.

The profession of a designer does not require a qualification exam, nor does it have an ethical code like the Hippocratic Oath. However, in the 21st century, where the scope of design continues to expand, designers must think beyond ‘good design’ and ‘bad design’ to consider ‘right design.’ They must contemplate the impact design has on users and be able to take responsibility. User awareness is also important. If widespread design traps are regarded merely as users’ carelessness or mistakes, it is tantamount to giving a free pass to companies and services that use design traps. Companies must also recognize that indiscriminate design traps are never profitable in the long term and establish clear design regulations and standards. When designers, companies, and users put their heads together to consider what right design is, design for everyone will become possible.

Design Trap | Written by Yoon Jae-young | Kim Young-sa | 352 pages | 16,800 KRW