Creepy Technology: What Is It and How Do You Measure It?

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Perceived Creepiness of Technology Scale (PCTS), a tool designed to measure initial user perceptions of creepiness in new interactive technologies, aiding designers in creating less unsettling tech.

Contribution

The paper presents the development and validation of the PCTS, a novel scale for assessing perceived creepiness in technologies during initial user encounters.

Findings

PCTS reliably measures perceived creepiness.

The scale helps compare different technologies.

It supports designing less creepy interactive systems.

Abstract

Interactive technologies are getting closer to our bodies and permeate the infrastructure of our homes. While such technologies offer many benefits, they can also cause an initial feeling of unease in users. It is important for Human-Computer Interaction to manage first impressions and avoid designing technologies that appear creepy. To that end, we developed the Perceived Creepiness of Technology Scale (PCTS), which measures how creepy a technology appears to a user in an initial encounter with a new artefact. The scale was developed based on past work on creepiness and a set of ten focus groups conducted with users from diverse backgrounds. We followed a structured process of analytically developing and validating the scale. The PCTS is designed to enable designers and researchers to quickly compare interactive technologies and ensure that they do not design technologies that produce initial feelings of creepiness in users.