Spark: Promoting well-being by social media-triggered routine breaks

Abstract

The Mental well-being is an intangible, subjective perception of our own emotions and cognitive capabilities. With the rise of social networks, connectivity and media consumption have seen dramatic changes. In this work we focus on understanding how mental well-being relates to people’s routines, what dangers and recommendations we should be aware of, and what opportunities exist to leverage current technologies in order to improve people’s lives. As a contribution to HCI based on our research insights, we designed a solution that promotes daily mental well-being. Spark is a mobile application where everyone in the world participates in a single challenge every 25 h. Each challenge asks the user to perform an activity, capturing that moment with a photo, and then sharing it. As the user participates in different challenges over time, a record of his activities is always accessible. This encourages the user to relive positive past experiences, and take note of his accomplishments.