Great technology should improve life, not distract from it.
Our goal has always been to create products that improve the lives of the people who use them. We’re constantly inspired by the ways people use technology to pursue knowledge, explore their passions and the world around them, or simply make their everyday a little easier.
But as technology becomes increasingly prevalent in our day-to-day lives, sometimes it can distract from the things that matter most to us. We believe technology should play a helpful, useful role in people’s lives, and we’re committed to helping everyone strike a balance that feels right for them.
YouGov, 2019“One in three US adults have taken active steps to improve their digital wellbeing in the last year.”
Designing for digital wellbeing
Our goal is to enhance people’s wellbeing through supporting an intentional relationship with technology.
Tools and features to help people find their own sense of balance.
Many experts recommend self-awareness and reflection as an essential step in creating a balance with technology. With that in mind, we created Android’s Digital Wellbeing tools to give people greater insight into how they use their smartphones. Features such as flip to Shhh, Wind Down, and app timers are helping people maintain focus, disconnect, and be more mindful of their whole family’s tech habits.
Creating products that are truly helpful.
Since day one, our aim has been to help people quickly find what they’re looking for and take action. As machine learning and the Google Assistant continue to improve, we’re helping people do more, while naturally reducing the amount of time they spend on screen.
Inspiring designers and developers to create new tools.
The Digital Wellbeing product experience toolkit gives teams that build products a set of research-backed principles and practices to support people’s wellbeing. The toolkit starts with an overview of what digital wellbeing means at Google, then offers a set of principles, thought starters, and workshop activities to help you put wellbeing at the forefront of the products you build.
Also, check out Digital Wellbeing Experiments, launched to inspire designers and developers to explore new ways of integrating digital wellbeing into their creations. With a set of simple apps, a hack pack and open-source code, the platform invites everyone to get involved. The more who join, the more we can learn about building better technology for everyone.
Digital Wellbeing Experiments is a collection of ideas and experimental tools that help people find a better balance with technology.
Building for a positive future
This is just the beginning. As technology becomes more integrated into people’s daily lives, we have a responsibility to ensure our products support their digital wellbeing. We are committed to:
Sundar Pichai, May 2018“We want to help people find the right balance and gain a sense of digital wellbeing.”
Investing in learning more.
We’re actively conducting our own research and exploring partnerships with independent researchers and experts to build a better understanding of the many personal impacts of digital technology. We believe this knowledge can help shape new solutions and ultimately drive the entire technology industry toward creating products that support digital wellbeing.
Optimizing our products.
We have launched a longitudinal study to better understand the effectiveness of our digital wellbeing tools in helping people achieve greater balance in their tech use. These findings will help us optimize our current offerings while inspiring brand new tools.
Focusing on quality experiences.
We are exploring new ways to understand people’s overall satisfaction with our product experiences. Through emphasizing user goals (rather than solely measuring engagement and time spent on our platforms), we can deliver on more helpful experiences that also support people’s digital wellbeing.
Supporting digital wellbeing, together.
To inform our digital wellbeing efforts, we work with the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international, nonprofit organization that works to make the online world safer for kids. FOSI convenes leaders in industry, government, and the nonprofit sectors to collaborate and innovate new solutions and policies in the field of online safety. Through research, resources, events, and special projects, FOSI promotes a culture of responsibility online and encourages a sense of digital citizenship for all.
