Co-creating and Assessing Future Wellbeing Technology Using Design Fiction

Abstract

In this article, we present our research using design fiction to explore future wellbeing technologies for older adults. “For Good Times and Bad Times” is a design fiction representing a range of emotional, qualitative, and functional goals associated with wellbeing health technology. We invited a small cohort of experts to participate in a wearable monitoring device co-creation session, and then invited older-aged participants to review and reflect on a design fiction crafted from the experts’ findings and a set of psychological needs and values that have been associated with wearable health devices. The results offer insight into the future of wellbeing monitoring technology, and demonstrate the power design fiction has to communicate and generate deep discussions on the psychological, cultural, and social implications of using technologies that mediate complex personal experiences. We discuss the challenges associated with creating and using design fiction in research with older adults, and the potential of fiction to shift perspectives and elicit prospective outcomes of using future technologies.