A Comparative Study of Attitude Formation During Online and Real-Life Socialization and Its Implications on Design of Textile Wearables

Abstract

To formulate heuristics for the design of smart textile wearable of the future it is essential to understand user behavior and user mental model formations as it currently happens during on-line and real-life interactions amongst users. The differences between behavior and preferences during on-line and real-life socialization could provide vital insights to understanding and defining interactions that smart textile wearable need to afford to enhance and facilitate user lifestyle. Here it is postulate that smart textiles and associated wearable will eventually replace social platforms as interaction mediums in near future. One of the parameters of behavior-based actions being emotions, emotional states during online and real-life socialization was planned to be identify and elicited from 30 young respondents between the ages of 18-28 years, who use social networking platforms through a questionnaire-based study. Qualitative analysis was conducted to identify the traits possessed by different kinds of friends, boundaries that respondents create around themselves and levels of information revealed to the defined categories of friends. Response rated on a five-point Likert scale indicated that positive emotions were rate higher in real-life than during online interactions. Quantitative analysis revealed that respondents felt emotionally constrained on digital platforms than in real-life while interacting with friends or acquaintances. 83% respondents agreed that clothes play an important role in self-expression and 57% liked the idea of their clothing facilitating communication. The study also indicates that a future wearable textile could be designed to facilitate social communication by reinforcing positive attitudes and beliefs of the users and enhancing user interactions.