Ambient Frictions: Place-conscious Frictions to Foster Intentional Technology Use

Smartphone addiction, driven by persuasive design techniques, has become a significant contributor to poor mental health. Existing digital wellbeing interventions typically rely on app-level restrictions, overlooking the role of physical space in shaping technology habits. This work introduces ambient frictions: home-embedded, spatially triggered deterrents that disrupt problematic smartphone use in the specific place it occurs. We conducted a brainstorming survey with 10 lab members to identify promising friction modalities, finding convergence around light and olfactory stimuli. We then designed and built two prototypes—a flickering light and a mushroom-shaped scent sprayer—both triggered by user-defined smartphone actions via a Home Assistant and ESP32C3 pipeline. The sprayer prototype follows a biophilic aesthetic to function as a home good beyond its deterrent role, encouraging long-term adoption. We present the design and implementation of these prototypes and outline plans to evaluate their efficacy in reducing problematic smartphone use.