Leaf your Chair Behind—Calm Persuasion for Frequent Sitting Breaks Among Office-Workers

This study addresses the detrimental health effects of prolonged sitting by proposing a persuasive system that employs "calm prompting." Unlike traditional on-screen reminders, the system leverages unobtrusive, continuous cues—derived from a plant aesthetic—to nudge office workers to take regular sitting breaks.

By blending natural design elements with subtle light changes, the system aims to occupy the user’s attentional periphery without disrupting workflow. Drawing on principles of calm technology, the study evaluates various design concepts (appearance, audio, light, and movement) and ultimately proposes a proof-of-concept that attaches an artificial leaf to an existing office plant.

The paper presents qualitative insights from focus group interviews with workplace health experts and quantitative data from an online study with office workers. The findings offer design implications for persuasive systems targeting sedentary behavior and demonstrate the technical feasibility of calm prompting in a real-world office environment.

Jung-Krenzer, T., Kirchner-Krath, J., Retz, C., & Altmeyer, M. (2024). Leaf your Chair Behind—Calm Persuasion for Frequent Sitting Breaks Among Office-Workers. In Proceedings of Mensch und Computer (MuC '24). DOI: 10.1145/3670653.3670681