FocusBuddy: Encouraging Healthy Desk-Work Habits by Caring for a Virtual Pet on a Water Bottle
Abstract
People who study or work at a desk sit for long uninterrupted periods and drink less water than they intend to. Software reminders address both problems but are easy to dismiss and easy to resent. We present FocusBuddy, a proof-of-concept fabric case that wraps a standard water bottle and houses a microcontroller, environmental sensors, and a small display showing a virtual pet. The pet's condition mirrors the user's self-care: drinking water feeds the pet, standing up to move plays with it, and refilling an empty bottle cleans it. Twenty undergraduate students used FocusBuddy for two weeks during their regular coursework and completed a written interview. Self-reported water intake rose from a median of 3 to 4 cups per day, movement episodes rose from 2 to 4 per day, and interviews surfaced two tensions: that wellness prompts must respect focused work, and that pet neglect can convert a wellness prompt into a source of guilt. We contribute the prototype, first-deployment evidence of healthy-direction shifts in self-reported habits, and design implications for emotionally framed wellness devices.
