selected works
/
conscious scroll
Role
Solo UX designer
Timeframe
4 Weeks
Type
Tools
Instagram has close to two billion users, with content consumption as its core experience. A third of users show signs of high-risk addictive behaviour, reporting mental fatigue, time blindness, and anxiety. The platform's own controls are passive — a reminder that's easy to dismiss — so the people who already know they scroll too much have nowhere to turn. Constant scrolling trains the algorithm on content they never chose, and the next session is worse than the last — an endless cycle.
There are two issues; people forget how long they've been scrolling, and they don't know what content they’ve been scrolling through. Conscious Scroll closes both. Before the feed loads it asks what you came for, then keeps that intention and a session timer visible while you scroll. Afterwards it shows a summary of what you content you consumed. It's built into Instagram rather than external app, so the platform trades a little raw time for something it needs more: user trust.
THE CHALLENGE
Develop a healthier relationship with Instagram
Have more meaningful engagement on Instagram
Understand what content they engage with
Better manage the time spent on Instagram
Manage what content is viewed and engaged with
Understand current app usage
Understand how users feel about their app usage
Identify issues with app usage
Determine desirability of feature
Identify time and content management tools
Affinity mapping, personas, statements.
Feature set, sitemap, user and task flows.
Lo-fi, mid-fi, hi-fi, prototype.
Unmoderated user testing, iterations.
Two methods conducted. The competitor analysis identified existing products and any potential gaps that the feature could fill. The interview revealed how users felt about Instagram and what they wish they had more control over.
5
interviews, open-ended, 30 minutes each
6
competitor products analysed
Users all have different uses for social media, such as communication, news or entertainment but almost all of them feel depressed after use, like they waste their time, or that they are addicted.
Users want a more controlled relationship with Instagram.
All respondents have used the app longer than intended before and find themselves using the app more than they want throughout the day.
The idea of setting an intention upon opening the app can help prevent this and improve the user’s outlook on their usage.
News leads to strong engagement but can make users feel negative.
Reels and short form content is addictive.
Positive and funny content improves the experience.
Random AI content or upsetting content pushes people away.
This creates an opportunity for content awareness and reflection in the feature.
Several respondents repeated that they want more control over what they see and that it frustrates them when they see irrelevant content. The algorithm controls them, when they want control over it.
The feature’s content settings can help influence the algorithm.
Age: 24
Occupation: Waitress
Gender: Female
Location: South Africa
BIO
Amber uses Instagram daily as a way to unwind, pass time, and escape boredom. What starts as a quick check-in often turns into long, unintentional scrolling sessions. While she enjoys light content like funny videos and recipes, she often finishes using the app feeling like she’s wasted time and gained little value.
BEHAVIOURS
Opens Instagram multiple times a day, consumes Reels and passive content, rarely posts or engages actively, usage is fuelled by boredom, loses track of time while scrolling.
CHALLENGES
Mindless scrolling habits, feels unproductive after long sessions, struggles to stop once she starts, screen-time tools don’t work.
NEEDS
Gentle reminders during scrolling, awareness of time spent in the moment, a way to break out of autopilot behaviour.
“It really is just a matter of habit at this point. I don’t even mean to open the app, my fingers just automatically click the button.”
Age: 38
Occupation: Creative director
Gender: Male
Location: South Africa
BIO
Alexander actively engages with Instagram as both a social and informational platform. He follows news, cultural content, and topics he cares about, but is highly aware of how the algorithm shapes his experience. While he values the platform, he is critical of its addictive nature and the emotional impact of the content he consumes.
BEHAVIOURS
Active and passive usage, curates his feed intentionally, checks screen time occasionally, uses Instagram for both connection and information.
CHALLENGES
Algorithm pushing unwanted content, emotional impact of certain topics, feels conflicted about time spent vs value gained, limited control over feed and recommendations.
NEEDS
Transparency of content consumption, control over algorithm, insight into how content affects him
“When my feed is flooded with negative headlines it overwhelms me. Sometimes I close the app wishing I never opened it.”
Once the structure and flows were validated, high-fidelity screens were designed applying the full visual style of Instagram’s current UI.
A clickable prototype was built in Figma covering my primary flows. These prototypes were used in my usability testing sessions, giving testers realistic task completion.
FLOW 1 & 2 — THE MAIN EXPERIENCE
Here flow one and two can be seen together as they make up the main feature experience.
FLOW 3 — ACCESSING ANALYTICS
Conscious scroll analytics can be found in settings, users can view what kind of data will be displayed when the feature is launched.
User flows 1 and 2 were combined for this test. Users were asked to simply navigate through the feature. I kept the goal broad for this test as my main goal was to determine the functionality and desirability of the feature.
Navigate through the Conscious Scroll feature.
75% of respondents agree that the UI matches Instagram’s current interface.
70 seconds
75% of respondents stated the feature was intuitive the use.
100% of respondents stated they would use the feature.
“Loved the feature! It gives users way more insight and control over their social media consumption which is honestly much needed.”
The timer on the ‘Progress Bar’ page caused anxiety, respondents want more content moderation settings on the ‘Reflective Summary’ page, and they would like more intention options.
“I dislike the timer at the top, it creates a nervousness and unwanted stress to something that shouldn't feel like that but having said that I’m not sure what’s a better way of indicating the time remaining as shifting to a message informing me of such would not help either.”
Users were asked to access their Conscious Scroll analytics. The goal of this test was to determine if users could easily find the analytics page and whether all the data presented was useful.
Navigate to Conscious Scroll analytics and review the page.
All respondents agree that the UI of the feature matches Instagram’s current interface.
73 seconds.
Some participants were confused by the data presented on the analytics page. One user was unsure what ‘Most viewed’ referred to, their profile or other profiles. Not enough users reported this being a problem to take extensive action.
“I just need a clear understanding on the "Most Viewed" session. Does it cover views of my profile or it's data of accounts that I viewed?”
100% of respondents stated they would use the feature.
“I like the concept of the app and it could be great in understanding of how we use social media.”
Users found all elements useful, making them successful.
BEFORE
AFTER
INTENTION OPTIONS
A new intention was added to give users more options. A custom intention option was also added, here users can type any intention they want.
BEFORE
AFTER
PROGRESS BAR
I removed the intention reminder and the count down timer. Only the progress bar remained. This is more subtle and the goal is to decrease the anxiety some users reported from the timer.
BEFORE
AFTER
CONTENT MODERATION SETTINGS
Users wanted more content moderation settings in the reflective summary. I added the ability to block certain topics.
I chose this brief because social media time management is something I've struggled with, and I assumed that made it a narrow problem. The research said otherwise. People wanted more control over what they saw, better tools for managing time, and more transparency from the platform. The most useful thing I took from the project was learning to treat that research as a live reference rather than a phase I'd completed. The personas and interview findings became something I returned to at every stage, and whenever a design decision felt uncertain, going back to them settled it faster than reasoning it out alone.
The second lesson was about intent. Instagram already ships a screen time tool and third-party apps have offered limits for years, yet people ignore all of them. What made Conscious Scroll different was asking why someone opened the app rather than only how long they stayed, and keeping that distinction at the centre of every decision. Every respondent said they would use the feature, which tells me the framing landed.
WHAT WORKED
Returning to the personas resolved uncertain decisions faster than debating them in the abstract.
Designing inside Instagram rather than alongside it. Keeping the platform's business model in scope meant the concept had to earn its place, not just help the user.
WHAT I WOULD CHANGE
Asking "would you use this" reliably returns a yes, especially from people who already feel bad about scrolling.
I recruited people who already knew they overused the app. That's the group most likely to welcome the idea.
FUTURE ITERATIONS