Free classroom resource · Grades 6–10
Who chooses when you stop?
A 20-minute lesson about interface choices. Students examine fictional app designs and redesign one to make a user’s intended stopping point easier to follow.
Created September 22, 2026 · Digital Dopamine Dispenser · Original activity, not a classroom-tested intervention
Preparation and learning goal
Students will identify a design feature, explain the action it encourages, and propose a change with a reason. You need paper, a board, and the scenario cards below. No accounts, phones, student usage reports, or personal disclosures are required.
Read the cards aloud or offer large-print copies. Students can sketch, write, dictate, or discuss a response with a partner. Use fictional examples throughout; do not ask students to reveal private chats or defend their family’s rules.
A minute-by-minute teaching plan
- 0–3 minutes: compare two endings. Draw a video player that stops and one that immediately plays the next video. Ask: “What happens in each version if you do nothing?” Record observations before opinions.
- 3–6 minutes: name the choice. Explain that a default is what happens without another action. A stopping cue makes an ending noticeable. These terms describe interfaces; they do not measure a brain chemical.
- 6–12 minutes: work in pairs. Give each pair one scenario. Have them answer the questions and sketch or describe a redesign. Ask them to preserve the useful purpose of the app.
- 12–17 minutes: compare proposals. Invite two pairs to present. Ask what their change makes easier, what it might make harder, and whose needs could be missed.
- 17–20 minutes: exit ticket. Each student identifies one feature, predicts its effect on a user’s choices, and names a limitation of their prediction.
Scenario cards
1. The next video
A fictional app starts another video five seconds after the chosen one ends. The small Cancel button disappears when the countdown ends.
Your task: Which action is easiest? What happens if someone does nothing? Redesign the ending so continuing and stopping are both clear.
2. The streak message
A fictional drawing app says: “Your 14-day streak disappears tonight. Don’t let your friends down!” A learner has already finished their planned drawing time.
Your task: Separate the factual information from the pressure. Rewrite the message to help the learner decide without guilt.
3. The homework notification
A student uses a tablet to read an assignment. A group chat banner covers part of the text. One chat is needed for the assignment; another is about a game.
Your task: What information is missing before you recommend a change? Suggest a way to keep necessary communication available while reducing interruptions.
Student response sheet
Choose one fictional scenario. You do not need to include your name or describe your own phone use.
The scenario I chose:
The design feature I noticed:
What happens if the user does nothing?
The user’s goal could be:
My redesign (write or sketch):
This change helps because:
One tradeoff or access need to consider:
Teacher discussion notes
The next video
Look for a visible end state and an equally clear choice. An acceptable redesign could leave the next video paused until selected. Students need not claim that autoplay is always harmful.
The streak message
A possible rewrite: “You drew on 14 days. Come back when you want to practice again.” Other answers may keep a reminder but remove social pressure. Discuss whose goal the message serves.
The homework notification
Students might ask which chat is needed, whether notifications can be separated, and how urgent contact works. “Ban the tablet” misses the assignment and possible access needs.
Accept different designs when students explain their reasoning. Avoid judging the exercise by whether students agree that screens are bad. A stronger response identifies a specific feature and recognizes a tradeoff; a weaker response simply labels the app “addictive” without explaining the design.
Exit ticket and extension
Complete: “The feature ___ makes ___ easier. I would change ___ because ___. I cannot tell from the design alone whether ___.” For an extension, ask students to compare a reminder they deliberately requested with one they did not choose. How should the controls differ?
Use the responses to decide what to clarify in the next lesson. This activity has not been evaluated for changes in attention, screen use, grades, or well-being. It is a discussion and design exercise, not an addiction assessment.
Read the companion classroom routines guideUse and adaptation
You may print, copy, and adapt this activity for your own classroom or household at no charge. Keep the Digital Dopamine Dispenser credit on distributed copies and identify your changes. Do not sell the material as your own or imply endorsement by a school or professional organization.
The scenarios are invented. The lesson does not reproduce any platform’s interface or claim that every person responds to a design in the same way. For our approach to sources and corrections, see the editorial page.