As you point out in one of your posts, the meaning conveyed by the same battery level differs between extroverts and introverts.
For me, low social battery would mean "please leave me alone", whereas for others it would mean "please talk to me".
I wonder how that could be conveyed, of if there is another analogy other than battery level? Maybe a "talk to me traffic light"?!
I previously worked on a similar project focused on office interruptions, where you could display short statuses on an e-ink display on your desk - here's my teammate's writeup: https://www.timmychiu.com/dash . We didn't really get the chance to test it in the field, since COVID-19 hit that semester...
Also: 10% 20% 60% 80% 100% ?
People with lacking social skills (hi) are probably least likely to understand such a mixed signal.
To anyone planning to make another one of those: be clear and call it simply “sociability”. Then it’s quite obvious, red means stay away and green means I can talk. That said, it’d eliminate the fun “my social battery is out of battery” failure mode…
"low social battery"/"spoons" doesn't mean you should avoid them or try and fix anything. What you should do is take it as a signal to not take offense and be patient if they need to leave suddenly, get distracted, or have difficulty. You can be welcoming while still making them some space to be tired or in pain.
My experience is that people who are lacking "social skills" aren't actually lacking social skills, they are lacking "social instincts". For people who have them, those social instincts work great 80% of the time, and most people just let them fail 20% of the time instead of applying critical thought to the situation (taking offense where none is meant or just miscommunicating).
Bluntly put, this tool is likely not meant for your consumption and your "lack of social skills" probably makes it much less necessary. You have to use critical thought every time you are in social interaction, so a reminder to do so is just signal noise to you.
The first point, thanks for the insight. Depending on the type of pain it can be the opposite for me, sometimes I find it easier to distract myself from it by talking to others. I am normally not inclined to talk IRL, but being badly ill and weak turns me into a more pleasant person apparently.
* I'm more prone to day dream/wander away from the conversation.
* I'm going to struggle to actively keep a conversation going.
I don't think I could ever wear a pin like this, but for me low social battery would indicate "I'm less likely to be highly engaged in a conversation". Could be the most interesting conversation in the world, but I'd simply be unable to engage at a high level.
I think I got it finally. What you describe is aloneness battery. First you have a lot of it, then it drains and you need to recharge. It is the opposite of “social battery”, but does not roll off the tongue.
“Social battery” means you have a lot of social interaction as optimal state, then it drains and you need to replenish.
Ah, classic Etsy move. They really went downhill, all I can see in my cosplay bubble on Twitter/Mastodon is complaints.
Then I can shift it to green which automatically starts a countdown to shift to red after 15 minutes.
It would be even better with the countdown being visual with a bar of lights that starts up "full" and then decreases by one light until the time has expired.
Must have the feature to extend the conversation should that ever be a desire. You can find good conversations with luck.
Most desired for me would be automatic detection of conversation and start the countdown.
Customs is the part I found most stressful trying to work out. I have to attach a declaration which has an HS code[0] on it. Working out the 'correct' code was a bit of a guessing game. I've gone with '853120' which is for 'Indicator panels incorporating liquid crystal devices (LCD) or light-emitting diodes (LED)' and that seems to do the job!
It would be like a radioactivity monitor, perhaps inferring exposure based on voices and location, and warn me when it’s time to seek decontamination and cover. ;)
Turn yourself into the Tamogotchi
Something that took me by surprise is how much fun it is seeing people interact with my content on facebook. A lot of people are just comenting and tagging their friends because they think it's a funny idea. Whilst I am kind of paying for the ego boost it's really nice seeing people enjoying my project even though they don't necessarily follow through and buy one.
