3519 2024 eng 1 15 conferenceobject Association for Computing Machinery New York 1 -- -- -- This paper presents an approach to designing companion technologies for mental health based on a case study on social anxiety disorder (SAD). We highlight the potential of an irritating dimension of user experience and propose including irritating qualities in companions as a strategy to disrupt patterns of behavior and thought, support perspective change, and expand an individual’s comfort zone. Taking the Tamagotchi as a counterpoint to assisting technologies and combining frameworks and concepts from psychology and HCI, we propose the grounding metaphor of ‘caring for the companion as a form of self-care,’ arguing the potential of building reciprocal care relationships as a means by which to support emotional attachment and establish healthy routines. In this paper, we introduce this grounding metaphor and a set of principles for fostering positive irritations. Our framework provides a basis for exploring and developing novel paradigms and poses future directions for HCI. Live - Uniting HCI for a Hyperlocal and Global Experience : Proceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction Exploring the design space for irritating companion technologies for mental health 979-8-4007-0966-1 10.1145/3679318.3685343 2024-10-17T08:28:58+00:00 sword hisres Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International Jordi Tost Rahel Flechtner Rahel Maué Frank Heidmann deu swd Angststörung deu swd Benutzererlebnis deu swd Design fiction deu swd Humor deu swd Provokation deu swd Psychische Gesundheit deu swd Reiz FB1 Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaften FB4 Design Inst. für angewandte Forschung Urbane Zukunft (IaF) Import Gold Open Access Fachhochschule Potsdam