Microinteractions
In 2018, Greg Callaghan, a senior writer at The Sydney Morning Herald, wrote an article titled “How micro social interaction with strangers can benefit our wellbeing.” In the article, he is reminded of an interview with Dr. Tim Sharp, who is in the area of positive psychology and the founder of The Happiness Institute in Sydney. Sharp spoke about the importance of small daily face-to-face interactions impacting our overall well-being. We encounter dozens of microinteractions in our lives, at the grocery store, gas stations, coffee shops, at school and even professionally. Moments of candid vulnerability can contribute to a positive well-being. Sharp says, “the brief, micro interactions we all have on a daily basis - can have amazing benefits.”
On the night of Oct. 11, 2024, I encountered a microinteraction with Felicia Hudson on the Santa Monica College Center of Media and Design (CMD) campus. I am a junior enrolled in the B.S. Interaction Design program at Santa Monica College (SMC) and also the Design Editor for the Corsair newspaper. I frequently spend late hours at the CMD, as it has provided me a safe space to be productive in my academic journey.
In the book “Microinteractions: Designing With Details” by Dan Saffer, he writes, “A microinteraction is a contained product moment that revolves around a single use case—a tiny piece of functionality that only does one thing... They are the small moments that can be dull and forgettable, or pleasurable and engaging. Every time you change a setting, sync your data or devices, set an alarm, pick a password, turn on an appliance, log in, set a status message, or favorite or Like something, you are engaging with a microinteraction.” Designing successful microinteractions is structured by these four variables: trigger, rules, feedback and lastly loops and modes.
The trigger initiates the microinteraction. A trigger can be as simple as flipping a switch, like the silence and ring functions on smartphones.
There are not many students who spend Friday nights on campus working until the building closes. Our trigger was the encounter Felicia and I had in the “green room” of the CMD. She was instantly surprised when she walked into the room to find me working inside.
Rules determine how the microinteraction works. In the example of the silence and ring switch, the rules are sound and no sound.
In my interaction with Felicia, rules were determined when she introduced herself as the custodial manager. As she walked through the door, she carried a friendly and welcoming energy. She engaged with me with a confident smile, moving and scanning the room while I was online working on a group project.
Feedback illuminates the rules. The vibration of the phone reacting while you engage in flipping the silence function is an example of feedback.
During our microinteraction, I asked Felicia if I should relocate. She insisted on my remaining there. “I’ll come back later, I’m here until 1 a.m.,” she said. I appreciated her allowing me to stay, because it may have been a task she wanted to get done and wasn't expecting a student to be in the room.
Loops and modes are meta rules that affect the microinteraction. Saffer explains this as “what happens over time with the microinteraction.”
As mentioned earlier, microinteractions can be pleasurable and engaging and that's how our encounter immediately felt. So how does our microinteraction affect me over time? Well, she will be forever remembered by me.
When I learned she was the victim of the shooting on Monday, Oct. 14, at the CMD, I was in disbelief. A microinteraction that happened two days before the incident on campus is forever ingrained in my memory. Sharp said in Callaghan’s article that “it boils down to empathy: taking an interest in other human beings, regardless of their station in life or their use to us.” Felicia showed me empathy as a student working into the night at the CMD, and after attending her vigil and listening to stories from her mother, son, friends and colleagues, I learned she was a genuine soul. In our interaction, I truly felt she had my best interest.
Microinteractions are embedded in digital and social experiences. Some are pleasurable and others are instantly forgettable. What determines this is the impression the interaction leaves upon us.
At work, home, school, and among friends and family, microinteractions can act as a purpose in our daily routine to create meaningful connections between ourselves and others. Choosing how to interact in those experiences can certainly make a difference in our wellbeing.
Let’s be mindful of how we interact with one another and be especially empathetic in our human interactions.
How micro social interactions with strangers can benefit our wellbeing (smh.com.au)