Hello and Welcome everyone! My name is Rohit Ashok Khot.
I am a Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
And today, I will be discussing our research project, which is on
Understanding screen-based dining practices through the lens of mindful eating.
Digital devices have a pervasive presence in our everyday life.
We use them for variety of tasks, eating is no exception.
Televisions,
tablets, laptops,
and phones all compete for our attention during mealtime.
while social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook
frame and intervene into much of our dining out experiences.
Now this could be a welcoming change for lone person households,
who otherwise have limited means of social dining.
However, such practices, if sustained for longer periods,
may impact one's physical and social well-being.
Several studies suggest that eating while watching television and other
forms of screen based media is bad for our health,
as they interrupt the physiological signal of satiety and hunger.
As a result, people may forget how much they have already eaten and they may end up overeating.
Now, consuming screen-based media during meal time is problematic,
because it conflicts with the ideologies of mindful eating.
Mindful eating is a holistic practice of eating with the intention of caring for oneself,
by noticing and enjoying the food, recognising its effect on the body, and knowing when to stop.
This non-diet approach to eating emphasises on savouring the moment
and encourages diner's full presence to the eating experience.
And thus it conflicts with the prevalent screen based dining culture
where screen content may take away diners' attention from food.
In principle, distractions of all kinds,
including screens should be avoided if one wants to eat mindfully.
But this is easier said than done.
Given the mass appeal of immersive media,
it is doubtful that individual will stop using screen-based media while eating.
Existing research also highlights the struggle in identifying and coming to an
agreement on the appropriate use of screens.
So, in such cases, banning the use of screens during meal time
in its entirety might not be an ideal way forward.
Rather a conceptual breakthrough is needed where we acknowledge the pervasive presence of
screen-based media and use it as a facilitator for supporting healthy and mindful eating practices.
Such technological innovations, however, require more nuanced understanding of the
relationship between eating practices and screen consumption, which this research aims to offer.
In this research, we take a closer look at people's dining practices
with and without screen through a field study.
We recruited 10 participants of different nationalities and asked them to record 4 meals,
2 while dining alone and 2 while eating in front of a screen.
Alongside the video recording of the meal,
we also captured their first-hand experiences using diaries and semi-structured interviews.
The diary featured tailored questions related to mindful eating,
while the interviews allowed us to understand their motivations and reasoning for dining.
In particular, we tried to understand how well they listen to their hunger and satiety cues?
Do they savour their food?
What is their typical eating behaviour in terms of speed and duration?
How and for what purposes they use screen? and their overall attitude toward food.
And here is what we found.
We found that participants chewed their food more in the presence of screen media.
There were also longer pauses between every two bites
and hence their meal duration was also longer.
These suggest to us that participants tried to finish their meal more quickly during
solo dining whereas they were bit more relaxed while eating in front of a screen.
Screen content, however, did not prompt them to overeat.
Rather, participants used the screen media mainly as a background noise.
Participants carefully selected the screen content that does not require their full attention
or something that would distract them from eating.
Many a times, they preferred watching reruns of their favourite shows while dining.
Some participants, however, had trouble in attending to their hunger cues when they
were occupied with screen tasks and that led to headaches, mood swings and unhealthy diet.
While for some other participants,
time and routine played an important role in deciding when to eat and how much to eat.
Almost all participants, however, mentioned to us that eating alone was a boring task.
They were little clueless on how they should occupy their mind during this time.
One participant constantly stared at the outside window observing trees and birds.
None of the participants, however,
mentioned to us that media content has any role in the judgment of food.
The judgment was mainly driven by the food characteristics such as taste,
nutrition and the visual appeal.
Screen, on the other hand, offered the relief when the food was not so tasty.
Participants were also less judgmental about home-cooked food.
Now moving forward, we acknowledge that not everything needs a technological fix.
and eating mindfully is certainly something that is very subjective,
and should be personally motivated.
Eating mindfully, however, does not come naturally to everyone.
and carefully designed technological interventions may help in avoiding the cold start.
Drawing on this, designer could explore the potential of uncomfortable
interactions to make users aware of their eating habits and screen time.
For instance, as seen in a research project like SWAN,
the utensils can make different uneasy movements to grab users' attention
on their food and to make them mindful about their media consumption during meal time.
Or artificial commensal companions like Guardian of the Snack can be designed
that offer audio feedback in terms of chewing and burping sounds,
signalling user it's time to eat or time to stop.
while the movement of the turntable can conceal and reveal
the snacks to add discipline to their snack and meal routine.
and such uncomfortable interactions do not have to be driven by technology alone
instead rearranging the food can also contribute to an improved awareness on eating practices.
For example, Tai and colleagues designed a playful uncomfortable design
experience where the traditional way of eating Caesar salad in a bowl
with a fork was replaced by a skewer to visualise the hidden data about water consumption.
Drawing on this, food designers can also explore different food
arrangements that can connect people with their bodily cues and mindful eating habits.
Finally being non-judgmental is the hardest part of following mindful eating practice.
Our brains are hardwired to judge the actions and events based on their merits.
However, being non-judgmental is not about stopping judgment from ever arising;
instead it is about changing the relationship to our judgment.
In this scenario, the current diet monitoring and journaling apps focus too much on the numerical
data and the nutritional content that may trigger judgmental thoughts towards food
and distance them away from the pleasures of eating.
Such apps should rather focus on one's emotions and feeling.
Systems like Stardust can be an example of a mindful multi-sensorial journaling
where user reflects on his or her mindful behaviour through creative latte art.
To conclude, we love this quote by Sodus, who says that
"diet fads will come and go, but the wisdom of eating each bite of the food while aware,
awake, and alive can nourish us for the lifetime."
Thank you :)