COVID-19 has brought significant changes to our lives and eating practices, where many of us are required to not only stay at home but also eat at home. This is particularly challenging for lone-person households as eating alone can be boring, less motivating and could lead to unhealthy behaviors such as mindless snacking or skipping of meals. To remedy such situations, we present Guardian of the Snacks, a tangible multimodal system that encourages mindful snacking by offering a playful companionship to snacking. The system is customizable to bear the shape of different animals and can be adapted to different snacking scenarios. Like a good companion, it encourages eating but moderates overeating through auditory feedback and playful nudging. In this article, we reflect on our design process and contribute ideas for the future development of technology-driven mindful snacking.
AnjaniLMokTTangA, et al. (2020) Why do people watch others eat food? An empirical study on the motivations and practices of mukbang viewers. In: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems, Honolulu, HI, USA, April 2020, pp. 1–13. ACM.
BachmanJLRaynorHA (2012) Effects of manipulating eating frequency during a behavioral weight loss intervention: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Obesity20(5): 985–992.
4.
BardzellJBardzellSKoefoed HansenL (2015) Immodest proposals: research through design and knowledge. In: Proceedings of the 33rd annual ACM conference on human factors in computing systems, Seoul, Republic of Korea, April 2015, pp. 2093–2102. New York, NY: ACM.
5.
ChaeWJuYJShinJ, et al. (2018) Association between eating behaviour and diet quality: eating alone vs. eating with others. Nutrition Journal17(1): 117.
6.
ForbesSLKahiyaEBalderstoneC (2016) Analysis of snack food purchasing and consumption behavior. Journal of Food Products Marketing22(1): 65–88.
7.
HassenzahlMLaschkeM (2015) Pleasurable troublemakers. In: The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 167–195.
8.
HermanCP (2017) The social facilitation of eating or the facilitation of social eating?Journal of Eating Disorders5: 16.
9.
HermsenSFrostJRenesRJ, et al. (2016) Using feedback through digital technology to disrupt and change habitual behavior: a critical review of current literature. Computers in Human Behavior57: 61–74.
10.
HunterSRMattesRD (2020) The role of eating frequency and snacking on energy intake and BMI. In: MeiselmanHL (ed.) Handbook of Eating and Drinking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 659–678.
KhotRAMuellerF (2019) Human-food interaction. Foundations and Trends® in Human–Computer Interaction12(4): 238–415.
13.
KhotRAYiJY (2020) GustaCine: towards designing a gustatory cinematic experience. In: Proceedings of the fourteenth international conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, February 2020, pp. 757–770. New York, NY: ACM.
14.
KhotRAAggarwalDPenningsR, et al. (2017) EdiPulse: investigating a playful approach to self-monitoring through 3D printed chocolate treats. In: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems, Denver, CO, USA, May 2017, pp. 6593–6607. New York, NY: ACM.
15.
KhotRAArzaESKurraH, et al. (2019) FoBo: towards designing a robotic companion for solo dining. In: Extended abstracts of the 2019 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems, Glasgow, UK, May 2019, pp. 1–6. New York, NY: ACM.
16.
KhotRALeeJAggarwalD, et al. (2015) TastyBeats: designing palatable representations of physical activity. In: Proceedings of the 33rd annual ACM conference on human factors in computing systems,Seoul, Republic of Korea, April 2015, pp. 2933–2942. New York, NY: ACM.
17.
KhotRAYiJ-YAggarwalD (2020) SWAN: designing a companion spoon for mindful eating. In: Proceedings of the fourteenth international conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, February 2020, pp. 743–756. New York, NY: ACM.
18.
KopytoffI (1986) The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective68: 70–73.
19.
KoskinenIZimmermanJBinderT, et al. (2011) Design Research Through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom, 1st edn. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
20.
LeidyHJCampbellWW (2011) The effect of eating frequency on appetite control and food intake: brief synopsis of controlled feeding studies. The Journal of Nutrition141(1): 154–157.
21.
LiuRInoueT (2014) Application of an anthropomorphic dining agent to idea generation. In: Proceedings of the 2014 ACM international joint conference on pervasive and ubiquitous computing: adjunct publication, Seattle, Washington, USA, September 2014, pp. 607–612. New York, NY: ACM.
22.
McGillRAppletonKM (2009) Reasons for snack food choice and the prevalence of fruit snacking in Northern Ireland. In: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. Cambridge University Press, 68(OCE3), pp. E144.
23.
MagklisEHoweLDJohnsonL (2019) Eating style and the frequency, size and timing of eating occasions: a cross-sectional analysis using 7-day weighed dietary records. Scientific Reports9(1): 15133.
24.
MarangoniFMartiniDScaglioniS, et al. (2019) Snacking in nutrition and health. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition70(8): 909–923.
25.
NawahdahMInoueT (2013) Virtually dining together in time-shifted environment: KIZUNA design. In: Proceedings of the 2013 conference on computer supported cooperative work, San Antonio, TX, USA, February 2013, pp. 779–788. New York, NY: ACM.
OgdenJCoopNCousinsC, et al. (2013) Distraction, the desire to eat and food intake. Towards an expanded model of mindless eating. Appetite62: 119–126.
28.
OviattS (2002) Multimodal interfaces. In: SearsAJackoJA (eds) The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., pp. 286–304.
29.
PlinerPBellR (2009) A table for one: the pain and pleasure of eating alone. In: Meals in Science and Practice. Woodhead Publishing, pp. 169–189.
30.
PotterMVlassopoulosALehmannU (2018) Snacking recommendations worldwide: a scoping review. Advances in Nutrition9(2): 86–98.
31.
RocchessoDDelle MonacheSBarrassS (2019) Interaction by ear. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies131: 152–159.
32.
RozendaalMCBoonBKaptelininV (2019) Objects with intent: designing everyday things as collaborative partners. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction26(4): 1–33.
33.
SnellKDM (2017) The rise of living alone and loneliness in history. Social History42(1): 2–28.
34.
SpenceCManciniMHuismanG (2019) Digital commensality: eating and drinking in the company of technology. Frontiers in Psychology: Human-Media Interaction10: 2252.
TakedaWMelbyMK (2017) Spatial, temporal, and health associations of eating alone: a cross-cultural analysis of young adults in urban Australia and Japan. Appetite118: 149–160.
37.
ThalerRHSunsteinCR (2009) Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Revised and Expanded edn. London: Penguin Books.
38.
WangYLiZJarvisRS, et al. (2019) Towards understanding the design of playful Gustosonic experiences with ice cream. In: Proceedings of the annual symposium on computer-human interaction in play, Barcelona, Spain, October 2019, pp. 239–251. New York, NY: ACM.
39.
WeiJWangXPeirisRL, et al. (2011) CoDine: an interactive multi-sensory system for remote dining. In: Proceedings of the 13th international conference on ubiquitous computing, Beijing, China, September 2011, pp. 21–30. New York, NY: ACM.
40.
WestgarthCChristleyRMMarvinG, et al. (2019) The responsible dog owner: the construction of responsibility. Anthrozoös32(5): 631–646.
41.
ZimmermanJForlizziJEvensonS (2007) Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, San Jose, CA, USA, April 2007, pp. 493–502. New York, NY: ACM.
