Why Design Thinking Needs a Responsibility Reboot
A narrow focus on appealing to users can lead to products that are addictive or harmful in other ways.
Pietro Micheli, Jatinder Jit (J.J.) Singh, Minu Kumar, and Neil GoldbergSeptember 23, 2026Reading Time: 9 min
Summary:
User-centered design methods focus on giving users what they seem to want. But approaches like design thinking can lead practitioners to ...
For years, social media companies have come under fire for promoting divisive, false, and dangerous content in order to monetize user engagement. But in March, when a jury in Los Angeles Superior Court found Meta and Google liable for causing harm to users due to the addictive nature of their products, the verdict put the focus not on content but on the companies’ deliberate design choices.
What stands out to us in considering the implications of the court decision is that even absent a willfully exploitative...
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