Toward the Ideal Self: Investigating Potential Technologies for Self-Improvement

This generative and exploratory study sought to investigate potential product affordances and behaviors which could support aspirational product use. Twelve participants were interviewed about a cherished object, were instructed to imagine a digital device that could provide the same prized feeling states as their object, created a word and picture collage illustrating potential uses for that object, and finally drew their object. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts revealed a number of thematic categories, one of which is related in this article: the purposeful engagement of technology to envision and manage the fulfillment of the Ideal Self, a conception of an individual’s life goals.