微处理 (Microprocessing)

I always thought I was pretty good at washing my hands, but when the pandemic began and hand-washing became an issue of life and death, it became starkly obvious that a quick scrub with hand soap was not enough. I got onboard the intense, 20-second hand-washing train, and I probably haven’t had hands this clean since I left food service.

我一直以为自己很擅长洗手，但是当大流行开始并且洗手成为生死攸关的问题时，明显的事实就是用洗手液快速擦洗是不够的。 我登上了长达20秒的密集洗手火车，自从离开餐饮服务以来，我可能还没有这么干净的手。

But lately, I’ve felt myself slipping up, washing my hands for 10 seconds instead of 20, then having to go back and do the whole thing over again. As New York has begun to ease up on its stay-at-home orders, I’ve subconsciously followed suit by drifting back to my lazy hand-washing habits. It’s taking a conscious effort to remember to sing happy birthday to myself twice in a row before I’m done at the sink.

但是最近，我感觉自己滑倒了，洗了10秒钟而不是20秒钟，然后不得不回头再重新做一遍。 随着纽约开始放宽家庭住宿的要求，我下意识地跟随了我的习惯，回到了我懒惰的洗手习惯。 记住要在我洗完澡之前连续两次给自己唱生日快乐，这是有意识的努力。

So when Apple announced at WWDC that it’s created an Apple Watch feature specifically to encourage better hand-washing habits, I was intrigued, but dubious that it would have much of an effect. How much of an impact can a vibrating Apple Watch with a bubble-letter countdown have on my hand hygiene? And for that matter, how effective are any tech apps that “nudge” us towards better, healthier behavior?

因此，当苹果公司在WWDC上宣布专门为鼓励更好的洗手习惯而创建了Apple Watch功能时 ，我很感兴趣，但怀疑它是否会起到很大作用。 带有气泡字母倒计时的振动Apple Watch对我的手部卫生有多大影响？ 就此而言，任何“ 推动 ”我们朝着更好，更健康的行为发展的技术应用程序效果如何？

I’d set out hoping for a straightforward answer to the question — nudge type A tends to elicit greater results than nudge type B — but, like human behavior itself, there’s a complex array of factors that make for a successful nudge. From the research that does exist, it seems that the effects from technological health and behavior interventions — like the Apple hand-washing feature and notifications from fitness apps — are likely to be temporary. In other words, the Apple Watch app would probably assist in encouraging better hand-washing behavior — for as long as I was wearing the Watch, at least. But in all likelihood, I’d go back to my bad habits once I’d given up the device.

我曾希望对这个问题有一个简单的答案-A型轻推比B型轻推往往会得到更大的结果-但是，就像人类的行为本身一样，有许多复杂的因素可以促使轻推。 根据现有的研究，看来技术健康和行为干预(例如Apple洗手功能和健身应用程序的通知)的影响可能是暂时的。 换句话说，Apple Watch应用程序可能会有助于鼓励更好的洗手行为-至少在我佩戴Watch的情况下如此。 但是一旦我放弃了设备，我很可能会回到我的坏习惯。

According to Paul Sherman, an assistant professor of user experience design at Kent State University, a lot of the time, product designers operate by what he calls a “hit record model or the movie model — throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.” And that’s because, Sherman says, we don’t exactly know which interventions will work best. There’s a lot of guesswork and experiments going on, rather than designers relying on decades of wisdom and research to guide them.

根据肯特州立大学用户体验设计助理教授Paul Sherman的说法，很多时候，产品设计师通过他所谓的“流行唱片模型或电影模型”来运作-将所有东西扔在墙上，看看会发生什么。 ” 这是因为，谢尔曼(Sherman)说，我们并不确切知道哪种干预效果最好。 正在进行大量的猜测和实验，而不是设计师依靠数十年的智慧和研究来指导他们。

This isn’t to say product designers are completely operating in the dark. Research shows, for example, that opt-out or default settings are an especially successful form of nudge, as they compel the user to behave in a particular way without the user having to think too hard about it. Dennis Hummel, a doctoral researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany whose research focuses on digital nudges, says defaults are one of the better ways to nudge people in one particular direction. One 2016 study, he says, “used defaults in emails by automatically signing up individuals for vaccine treatments, thereby doubling the rate of appointments.” A real-life example of the efficacy of defaults, he says, are automatic organ donation sign-ups. “In those countries where individuals have to opt-out from being a donor, the organ donation rates are much higher.”

这并不是说产品设计师完全是在黑暗中工作。 研究表明，例如，退出或默认设置是一种特别成功的轻推形式，因为它们迫使用户以特定的方式进行行为，而用户不必对此进行认真思考。 德国卡尔斯鲁厄技术学院的博士研究员Dennis Hummel致力于数字微调，他说，默认设置是在一个特定方向上微调人的更好方法之一。 他说， 2016年的一项研究 “通过自动注册个人进行疫苗治疗，从而使约会率翻了一番，从而在电子邮件中使用了默认设置。” 他说，默认情况下有效性的一个现实例子是自动器官捐赠签约。 “在那些个人不得不退出捐赠者的国家，器官捐赠率要高得多。”

Defaults are a form of what’s known as “implicit nudges,” which push people to make certain choices without them being actively aware they’re doing it. A printer that is automatically set to double-sided printing is an example of an implicit nudge to encourage people to save paper.

违约是所谓的“ 隐性推动 ”的一种形式，它促使人们做出某些选择，而他们却没有主动意识到自己正在这样做。 自动设置为双面打印的打印机就是鼓励人们节省纸张的隐式微调的示例。

An explicit nudge prods users toward certain proactive actions or behaviors. To continue the printer example, an explicit nudge to get people to save paper would be if your computer asked you if you wanted to do double-sided printing every time you wanted to print something.

明确推动用户采取某些积极的行动或行为。 继续以打印机为例，如果您的计算机每次要打印东西时都询问您是否要进行双面打印，则可以使人们节省纸张。

The Apple Watch hand-washing feature uses explicit nudges when it vibrates as wearers enter their homes, reminding them to wash their hands. When the Watch senses the user has begun to wash their hands, it will initiate a 20-second countdown, complete with cute text made to look like bubbles appearing in the Watch face. If the user stops washing their hands before the 20 seconds is up, they’ll receive an alert to keep washing.

当佩戴者进入家中时，Apple Watch的洗手功能会在振动时使用明显的微动，提醒他们洗手。 当手表感觉到用户已开始洗手时，它将启动20秒钟倒计时，并附有可爱的文字，看起来像气泡出现在表盘上。 如果用户在20秒结束之前停止洗手，他们将收到提醒，要求继续洗手。

These types of nudges are trickier to successfully implement, because the user is made aware that the product is trying to make them do something that they may or may not want to do. Even if they think they want to do the thing, they may not really have the motivation to do so. In effect, defaults and other implicit nudges ask less of users, so the user is less likely to express resistance to, for example, double-sided printing if they don’t have to take action and the printer is set. A printer that asks you if you want to do double-sided printing, however, will see less success at getting you to save paper.

这些类型的微调很难成功实现，因为用户已经意识到产品正在努力使他们做他们可能想要或不想做的事情。 即使他们认为自己想做某事，也可能没有真正的动力去做。 实际上，默认设置和其他隐式微调要求较少的用户，因此，如果用户不必采取任何措施并设置了打印机，则用户不太可能表达对双面打印的抵制。 但是，如果打印机询问您是否要进行双面打印，那么在节省纸张方面将很难取得成功。

But certain explicit nudges can work, at least for as long as the user decides to engage with it. A 2019 study out of Cornell looked at the impact of vibrations in compelling users to stop using Facebook. In the first week, participants used Facebook normally; in the second, their phones would vibrate once they’d exceeded their daily Facebook limit; in the third, the phone once again went back to operating as normal. The vibrations encouraged users to exit out of the Facebook app, though they didn’t stop users from opening it in the first place. While the time spent on Facebook went down by 20%, the number of times users opened the app didn’t. In the third week, once the vibration nudges were no longer in effect, participants went back to their old Facebook habits.

但是，某些明确的轻推功能可以起作用，至少在用户决定参与时才有效。 康奈尔大学(Cornell)的一项2019年研究研究了振动对强迫用户停止使用Facebook的影响。 在第一周，参与者正常使用Facebook。 第二，一旦超出每日Facebook限制，手机就会振动。 第三，手机再次恢复正常工作。 这种震动鼓励用户退出Facebook应用程序，尽管他们并没有阻止用户首先打开它。 虽然在Facebook上花费的时间减少了20％，但用户打开应用程序的次数却没有。 在第三周，一旦不再产生振动，参与者就会恢复他们过去的Facebook习惯。

A 2018 study investigating what kind of push notifications were most successful at encouraging exercise found that what users needed from the app depended on how long they’d been using it. Newer users were more likely to stick with the app when notifications contained suggestions (for example, “Walk 2,000 steps to reach your daily activity goal!”). After a while, though, users were more engaged and responsive when notifications contained insights instead (“You’ve walked 8,000 steps today”).

一项2018年的调查研究了什么样的推送通知最成功地鼓励了锻炼，发现用户对应用程序的需求取决于他们使用了多长时间。 当通知中包含建议时(例如，“步行2,000个步骤即可达到您的日常活动目标！”)，新用户更可能会坚持使用该应用程序。 但是，过了一会儿，当通知中包含洞察力时，用户会变得更加活跃和ReactSwift(“您今天走了8,000步”)。

Finally, a 2019 review looked at all the ways technology can nudge users toward certain behaviors, and found that no one type of nudge was a guaranteed hit or miss; rather, the nudge’s success was contingent on the context, the audience, and a whole host of other factors. The study authors point out that many health and behavioral modification apps have high abandonment rates, which is something researchers and designers are still trying to understand how to counteract.

最后，在2019年的回顾中，研究了技术可以将用户推向某些行为的所有方式，结果发现没有一种推特能够保证成功或失败; 相反，微调的成功取决于上下文，受众和其他众多因素。 该研究的作者指出，许多健康和行为修改应用程序的放弃率很高，这是研究人员和设计人员仍在尝试了解如何应对的方法。

Still, researchers I talked to had high hopes for the Apple hand-washing app, for the duration that people decide to use it, anyway. “I strongly believe that this timely nudge has the ability to establish proper washing habits,” says Ana Caraban, a PhD candidate at the University of Madeira in Portugal, who conducted the 2019 review. But she thinks the feature would be more effective if it wasn’t opt-in. “Prior research has found lower adherence in opt-in than opt-out strategies,” she says. “Because the motivated behavior resembles people’s best interests and has a crucial role in the transmission of [Covid-19], I would have chosen an opt-out approach to increase adherence to the behavior.” The feature, basically, would benefit from the inclusion of that implicit nudge, so that adoption isn’t another hurdle for it to clear.

尽管如此，我与之交谈的研究人员对苹果洗手应用程序寄予厚望，无论如何，在人们决定使用它的持续时间内。 葡萄牙马德拉大学(University of Madeira)的博士学位候选人Ana Caraban表示：“我坚信这种适时的轻拍能够养成适当的洗涤习惯，”她于2019年进行了审查。 但是她认为，如果不选择启用该功能，它将更加有效。 她说：“先前的研究发现，选择加入策略的依从性比选择退出策略低。” “因为有动机的行为与人们的最大利益相似，并且在[Covid-19]的传播中起着至关重要的作用，所以我本来会选择退出的方法来增加对行为的依从性。” 从根本上说，该功能将受益于该隐式微调，因此采用该功能并不是清除该功能的另一个障碍。

Michael Sobolev, a co-author on the Facebook vibrations nudge study, is currently working on his own study on technology and hand-washing. “One of the most promising applications of digital nudging is location-based reminders,” which the Apple Watch app — which will remind you to wash your hands when you get home — employs. “This nudge will also likely help people with the intention to wash hands frequently but often forget to do so.”

Facebook振动微调研究的合著者迈克尔·索博列夫(Michael Sobolev)目前正在致力于自己的技术和洗手研究。 “基于数字的提醒最有前途的应用之一是基于位置的提醒，” Apple Watch应用程序使用该工具-提醒您回家后洗手。 “这种轻推也可能会帮助有意经常洗手但经常忘记洗手的人。”

This won’t work as well for lazy people who simply don’t want to wash their hands, though, he says. For them, the app would need some kind of “commitment device,” such as vibrations or other reminders that don’t stop until the Watch senses that you’re washing your hands. A similar real-life intervention would be the beeping noise that starts when you sit in your car and doesn’t relent until you’ve buckled your seat belt, which actually inspired Sobolev’s Facebook vibrations nudge study in the first place.

他说，这对于那些根本不想洗手的懒惰人来说效果不佳。 对于他们来说，该应用将需要某种“承诺装置”，例如振动或其他提醒，直到手表感觉到您正在洗手时才会停止。 现实生活中类似的干预措施是蜂鸣声，当您坐在车里时会发出哔哔声，直到您系好安全带后才会松动，这实际上首先激发了Sobolev的Facebook振动微调研究。

It’s only the latest and greatest on a list of apps geared toward improving health and hygiene during the pandemic (and, theoretically, beyond). JalapeNO!, a Fitbit app designed by a University of Hawaii computer science professor, causes the Fitbit to vibrate whenever it senses your hand near your face. Wash Your Hands! sends customized notifications that remind users to, you guessed it, wash their hands. And like the Apple Watch app, the Samsung Galaxy Watch has an opt-in hand-washing app, complete with reminders and a countdown.

它只是在大流行期间(理论上可以超越)改善健康和卫生状况的应用程序列表中最新和最强大的。 辣椒！ 是由夏威夷大学计算机科学教授设计的Fitbit应用程序，只要感应到您的手靠近脸部，Fitbit就会振动。 洗手！ 发送自定义的通知，提醒用户您猜对了，请洗手。 与Apple Watch应用程序一样， Samsung Galaxy Watch也有可供选择的洗手应用程序，并带有提醒和倒计时功能。

If I had an Apple Watch, I’d absolutely turn on the hand-washing feature, though I’d temper my expectations (my own lack of faith in the life-changing capabilities of apps is well documented). Like most other apps meant to compel you to drink more water, exercise, get offline, or otherwise make you a better person, it’s little more than a band-aid solution.

如果我有Apple Watch，尽管可以满足我的期望，但我绝对会开启洗手功能(我对应用程序改变生活的能力缺乏信心已得到充分证明 )。 像大多数其他旨在迫使您多喝水， 运动 ，脱机或以其他方式使您变得更好的应用程序一样，这仅是一个创可贴解决方案。