Scroll State
Designing a behavioral mirroring system that provide insight about doom scrolling
Digital Wellbeing . Consumer App .
Powered by AI
80%
Improvement in Intentionality in using social media
60%
Decline in passive and low value content consumption
My Role
Product Design :
Visual Design, Motion Design, User Testing, Iteration, Prototyping
Team
Just me
Timeline
3 Weeks
Overview
Three Weeks To Attain A Better Scroll Behaviour
I was challenged to design a mobile application that can identify doom scrolling hours and address the “why” behind it.
In 3 weeks i designed a lightweight passive monitoring system that detects unhealthy scroll patterns by analysing users touch-hold behaviour and scroll pattern.
The app gently nudges the user to capture their emotion via camera,Prompt to log what they're watching, and present an AI-generated insight card built from their own scroll history then let user decide whether to freeze the distracting app or keep scrolling consciously.
Problem
Our attention span are shrinking, our anxiety is growing..
Most of us don’t decide to doom scroll, it just happens. We pick up our phone, and twenty minutes later we're somewhere we didn't mean to be.
Scroll State was designed around one core question: What if your phone could notice before you did? and help to address it if needed.
The gap identified in the market
Most apps that claim to fight screen addiction are just digital bouncers. They block, restrict, and guilt-trip users into putting their phones down.
Restriction is not a solution, a forced timer is not empathy.
Challenges
How do we detect passive scrolling from generic scrolling?
Identifying the perfect timing to trigger nudges to make an intention check is the important expreiance of the app.
How to make the emotional tagging in less than 3 taps?
Scroll state shouldn't feel like quiz contest. We needed a playful, low-pressure environment .
How do we facilitate user autonomy?
Respect autonomy of user to access content on their own terms is less pressurising .
Design Highlights
Touch pattern to active nudge triggering parameter
The system passively monitors scroll behavior and touch patterns — without sneaking in the content or feed itself — to detect doom-scrolling, and strategically fires nudges based on this analysis.
Translating micro-expressions into emotional data
User reflect without having the need to find the complex words first.
Playful notes for usage insight
The insight card doesn't just log how you felt , it shows you the pattern behind it, and hands the next decision back to you.
The Hourglass — a mirror of transformation overtime
The Hourglass isn't a dashboard it's a reflection. A quiet space to see how your relationship with scrolling has changed over days, months and beyond.
Outcome
Concept validated through student focus groups (16+), who responded strongly to the awareness-first approach that works with their social needs & desire not against it.
My biggest takeaway: Solutions don't always need to be complex. The biggest design inspiration often comes from simply observing human behaviour.
When you focus on one real pain point and shape your solution around it, the result can feel fresh, intuitive and genuinely human.