DailyFeats: How Women Use Online Tools in Their Quest for Well-being
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Abstract
DailyFeats is an online check-in platform that encourages and rewards positive behavior change. Available for use at www.dailyfeats.com for web and iPhone, DailyFeats helps users work toward positive goals by motivating them to accomplish individual actions (“featsâ€) on a regular basis. While it is free of charge and accessible to anyone age 13 and older, its user base is made up mostly of women (> 75% female users). The goal of this paper is to explore how women use DailyFeats and to link their usage to larger trends related to gender and health in use of online tools.
Online surveys conducted by DailyFeats have consistently suggested that its user base is largely composed of women. When asked about their reasons for using DailyFeats, responses typically fall into three categories. First, many users state that DailyFeats provides them with incentives that boost existing motivation levels to accomplish tasks that are important to their well-being. Second, many users find that tracking their positive actions through individual check-ins serves as reinforcement, so that they are more likely to engage in those same positive actions in the future. Finally, many mothers who use DailyFeats report that, by checking in their positive actions, they receive a sense of appreciation that they describe as valuable and important, yet unavailable elsewhere in their lives.
In 2009, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released results from a series of datasets on gender and Internet use spanning 2000-2004. They found that, compared to men, women are more likely to search online for health information and to use websites to get support for health or personal problems. They also found that women are more likely to look for support groups or communicate with others about diseases and conditions and that women were more likely to look for information on diet and nutrition, how to quit smoking, and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and stress.
DailyFeats is a clear example of how women are more likely than men “to get support for health or personal problems.†Beyond seeking information, DailyFeats offers an example of how women engage in an interactive fashion with an online self-care site, sharing information about themselves and their own activities. While this is only one example, it may represent a trend whereby women are more amenable to using online tools for self-care, not merely seeking information. Further work should examine the characteristics of online self-care tools that correlate with differential levels of use by gender. Better understanding why women and men are likely to use online self-help tools are important for implementing designs that actually work for all who seek to improve their health and well-being.
Online surveys conducted by DailyFeats have consistently suggested that its user base is largely composed of women. When asked about their reasons for using DailyFeats, responses typically fall into three categories. First, many users state that DailyFeats provides them with incentives that boost existing motivation levels to accomplish tasks that are important to their well-being. Second, many users find that tracking their positive actions through individual check-ins serves as reinforcement, so that they are more likely to engage in those same positive actions in the future. Finally, many mothers who use DailyFeats report that, by checking in their positive actions, they receive a sense of appreciation that they describe as valuable and important, yet unavailable elsewhere in their lives.
In 2009, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released results from a series of datasets on gender and Internet use spanning 2000-2004. They found that, compared to men, women are more likely to search online for health information and to use websites to get support for health or personal problems. They also found that women are more likely to look for support groups or communicate with others about diseases and conditions and that women were more likely to look for information on diet and nutrition, how to quit smoking, and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and stress.
DailyFeats is a clear example of how women are more likely than men “to get support for health or personal problems.†Beyond seeking information, DailyFeats offers an example of how women engage in an interactive fashion with an online self-care site, sharing information about themselves and their own activities. While this is only one example, it may represent a trend whereby women are more amenable to using online tools for self-care, not merely seeking information. Further work should examine the characteristics of online self-care tools that correlate with differential levels of use by gender. Better understanding why women and men are likely to use online self-help tools are important for implementing designs that actually work for all who seek to improve their health and well-being.
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