Why place your finger on the screen for 60 seconds?

This is not simply a relaxation experience.

HAKONE’s 60 seconds bring together ideas that have been studied across Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), interaction design, behavioral science, acoustic engineering, and systems engineering.

Here, we briefly introduce the design principles behind the experience through 22 areas of research.

1 | CHECKING HABIT

Why do we keep opening the phone again?

Research

In 2012, Antti Oulasvirta and colleagues studied the repeated, brief checking behaviors associated with smartphone use. [1]

What the research found

The ability to access new information immediately was associated with the formation and reinforcement of repetitive checking habits.

A Checking Habit refers to repeatedly checking email, social media, notifications, or other applications—often without a clear immediate purpose and sometimes with little conscious deliberation.

HAKONE

Why should you know this before beginning?

Because not every touch of the screen begins with a notification or a deliberate decision.

Sometimes, the finger simply returns.

The phone is opened again.

The feed is checked again.

Before blaming yourself for having “weak willpower,” HAKONE first places a 60-second boundary inside that repeated sequence of behavior.

2 | ATTENTION CAPTURE

Why is there nowhere to stop?

Research

In 2023, Alberto Monge Roffarello, Kai Lukoff, Luigi De Russis and colleagues reviewed 43 studies concerning designs that can continuously hold user attention. [2]

What the research found

They identified 11 design patterns, including Infinite Scroll.

Attention Capture refers to design approaches that attract and retain a user’s attention within a digital interface.

Such designs can make it exceptionally easy to continue interacting with content—even after the user’s original purpose has ended.

HAKONE

Where some interfaces remove the endpoint, HAKONE does the opposite:

it deliberately creates a place to stop.

Why understand this before the 60-second experience?

The next 60 seconds are not simply waiting time.

They are designed as a boundary inserted into a digital environment where the next piece of content can otherwise arrive continuously.

Understanding how attention can be captured by interface design changes the meaning of placing your finger on the screen.

The 60 seconds become a deliberate boundary between you and the automatic flow.

Sophisticated design deserves an equally deliberate response.

3 | DIGITAL SELF-CONTROL

Change the system, not just your willpower

Research

Ulrik Lyngs and colleagues examined 367 digital self-control tools, while Almoallim and Sas reviewed 39 commercial applications and 17 research prototypes. [3][4]

What the research found

Mechanisms such as limits, delays, blocking, and visualization can be built directly into the interface to support digital self-control.

Digital Self-Control means managing the frequency, duration, or pattern of technology use according to one’s own intentions.

HAKONE

Instead of telling the user:

“Just resist.”

HAKONE places the stopping behavior into the interface itself.

This is not an exercise in endurance.

It is a protocol that creates a deliberate stopping boundary on the system side.

Why understand this before beginning?

Digital temptation cannot always be addressed simply by telling yourself to endure it—or by treating permanent device separation as the only answer.

Why are you about to place your finger on the screen?

Because HAKONE approaches the problem not only through willpower, but through system design.

The boundary is built into the experience.

4 | MICROBOUNDARIES

Deliberately creating a small boundary

Research

In 2016, Anna Cox and colleagues proposed the design concept of Microboundaries. [5]

What the research found

Introducing intentional friction into an otherwise automatic action can create an opportunity to pause.

A Microboundary is a small obstacle, friction point, or behavioral rule intentionally placed before or within an action that might otherwise continue automatically.

HAKONE

HAKONE turns the 60 seconds of stillness itself into a Microboundary inside an otherwise continuous sequence of digital interaction.

Why understand this before beginning?

Without context, placing your finger on the screen may feel like nothing more than waiting.

But this 60-second experience is intentionally placed inside the flow of interaction as a small obstacle—a deliberate wall.

For 60 seconds, the automatic sequence is interrupted.

You experience the boundary directly.

5 | SLOW TECHNOLOGY

Technology that does not always make you go faster

Research

In 2001, Lars Hallnäs and Johan Redström introduced the concept of Slow Technology. [6]

What the research found

Technology does not need to be designed only for efficiency and speed.

It can also create space for reflection and mental rest.

Reflection

Reflection is the process of stepping back from one’s digital behavior and becoming more aware of what one is doing and why.

Mental Rest

Mental Rest refers here to a period in which the continuous flow of notifications, scrolling, and incoming information is temporarily interrupted.

HAKONE

Instead of helping you reach the next thing as quickly as possible, HAKONE deliberately creates 60 seconds in which you do not move forward.

Why understand this before beginning?

The act of simply placing a finger on the screen may otherwise appear meaningless.

But the 60 seconds are intentionally designed as time in which you can step outside the usual forward momentum of digital interaction.

Understanding the ideas of reflection and mental rest helps transform “waiting” into an intentional pause.

6 | ONE SEC

Waiting itself can have meaning

Research

In 2023, David Grüning and colleagues conducted a field study of the smartphone intervention one sec. [7]

What the research found

Introducing a brief delay and an opportunity to reconsider before opening a target application was associated with changes in app-opening behavior and demonstrated the potential value of temporal friction.

Temporal Friction is intentionally introducing a delay between a user’s action and the system’s immediate continuation.

HAKONE

HAKONE treats 60 seconds not as wasted time, but as a time boundary deliberately inserted into continuous interaction.

Why understand this before beginning?

We have become accustomed to digital systems responding in milliseconds.

Tap.

Open.

Swipe.

Next.

HAKONE deliberately breaks that relationship for 60 seconds.

Understanding why the delay exists changes it from “being forced to wait” into an intentional process for creating space before the next decision.

There is something almost Zen-like about that idea.

7 | DIGITAL NUDGING

The screen itself can influence decisions

Research

In 2016, Markus Weinmann and colleagues examined the concept of Digital Nudging. [8]

What the research found

Buttons, ordering, defaults, delays, and other elements of digital Choice Architecture can influence human decisions.

Choice Architecture refers to how choices are presented, arranged, and designed within a website or application.

The content itself is not the only thing that matters.

The structure through which the user encounters that content matters too.

HAKONE

Instead of creating another interface that makes it easier to move immediately to the next thing, HAKONE creates a different choice environment:

an interface in which it is easier to pause first.

Why read this before the 60-second experience?

Many screens are optimized to make continued interaction extremely easy.

If you do not understand that structure, placing your finger on the screen can feel like nothing more than 60 seconds of boredom.

But once you understand that interfaces themselves shape behavior, these 60 seconds take on a different meaning.

They become a deliberate redesign of the choice environment—this time, on the human side.

8 | DESIGNED FRICTION

Frictionless is not always the answer

Research

Chiara Natali and colleagues have discussed Designed Friction in Human–AI Interaction. [9]

What the research found

In some situations, deliberately introducing a degree of inefficiency can preserve space for human judgment and agency.

Designed Friction refers to intentional inconvenience, resistance, delay, or an extra step introduced into an interface so that a person has an opportunity to pause, think, or reconsider.

For decades, digital design has often pursued the ideal of being frictionless.

Fast.

Smooth.

Instant.

But friction is not always a defect.

Sometimes it is the point.

HAKONE

HAKONE’s 60 seconds are not leftover friction caused by poor design.

The friction is deliberately designed.

Why understand this before beginning?

Without understanding its purpose, 60 seconds of stillness may feel like an unnecessary delay.

Once you recognize the concept of Designed Friction, however, the delay becomes intelligible:

something has intentionally interrupted the automatic flow.

That interruption creates an opportunity to notice what you are doing before continuing.

9 | SEAMFUL DESIGN

Bringing the missing seam back

Research

Matthew Chalmers and Areti Galani explored the idea that technological boundaries and “seams” do not always need to be hidden and can instead become resources for design. [10]

What the research found

Making everything perfectly seamless is not the only way to design technology.

Seamful Design deliberately reveals boundaries, limitations, transitions, or points of separation that a seamless interface might otherwise hide.

HAKONE

Into an apparently endless scroll, HAKONE puts back one visible seam:

60 seconds.

Why understand this before beginning?

Modern digital systems often make transitions nearly invisible.

One item flows into the next.

One video becomes another.

One screen becomes another.

HAKONE deliberately restores a boundary.

Understanding that design intention turns the act of holding your finger still into something more than inactivity.

It becomes a visible seam between automatic continuation and your next deliberate choice.

10 | EMBODIED INTERACTION

Making the finger itself part of the interface

Research

In 2001, Paul Dourish developed the framework of Embodied Interaction. [11]

What the research found

Human–computer interaction can be designed not only through symbols and information on a screen, but through human bodily action itself.

Digital interaction often focuses heavily on the eyes and fingertips:

look.

tap.

swipe.

repeat.

Embodied Interaction reminds us that interaction also takes place through the physical body.

HAKONE

HAKONE does not merely ask you to press a STOP button.

It asks you to stop the very finger that normally scrolls.

The finger itself becomes part of the interface.

Why understand this before beginning?

Recognizing your physical interaction with the device changes the meaning of the action.

You are not merely watching something happen on a screen.

Your own hand becomes part of the boundary.

You touch.

You remain still.

You decide when to release.

11 | DWELL INTERACTION

Not moving can also be an input

Research

In 2022, Toshiya Isomoto and colleagues studied Dwell Selection—input methods based on remaining at a particular location for a specified period. [12]

What the research found

Clicking and swiping are not the only ways to provide input to a computer.

Maintaining a state can itself become an input condition.

Dwell Interaction refers to an interface method in which maintaining a gaze, pointer, or position for a certain period can trigger or confirm an interaction.

HAKONE

HAKONE treats the state of not moving your finger as an input in itself.

We call this:

STILLNESS INPUT.

The stillness is not an absence of action.

Within the interface, stillness becomes the action.

Why understand this before beginning?

Waiting can be active.

For these 60 seconds, maintaining stillness is a deliberate choice.

Understanding this helps reframe the experience:

you are not doing nothing.

You are giving the system a different kind of input.

12 | STILLNESS INPUT

Reversing ACTION = MOVE

Previous research

Microboundaries, Slow Technology, and Dwell Interaction each demonstrate different ways in which stopping, waiting, or maintaining a state can be deliberately designed into an interface. [5][6][12]

What this suggests

An interface does not always need to reward:

more movement = more value.

HAKONE uses the term STILLNESS INPUT for a design principle in which deliberately remaining physically still becomes a meaningful expression of user intention.

HAKONE

For 60 seconds, HAKONE reverses the usual relationship:

ACTION = MOVE

becomes:

ACTION = STOP

Most digital interfaces are designed around continuous input.

Tap.

Swipe.

Move.

Open.

HAKONE temporarily changes the rule.

Why understand this before beginning?

These 60 seconds are not simply time spent waiting with your finger on a screen.

They are a practical declaration:

I do not have to move simply because the system is ready for another movement.

In a digital environment built around continuous action, stillness itself becomes an intentional input.

Stopping becomes an action.

13 | STATECHARTS

Designing 60 seconds as a “state”

Research

In 1987, David Harel introduced Statecharts, a method for describing complex systems through states and transitions between states. [13]

What the research found

A system can be designed by clearly defining:

What state is it in now?

and:

Under what condition does it move to the next state?

A Statechart is, in simple terms, a map describing what a system is currently doing and what must happen before it progresses.

HAKONE

The HAKONE experience can be understood as a sequence of states:

Contact → Stillness → Hold for 60 Seconds → Feedback → Next Choice

Why understand this before beginning?

The 60 seconds are not an accidental pause.

They are a deliberately defined state within the interaction.

You enter it.

You remain in it.

The condition is completed.

Then you reach the next choice.

Understanding the process this way changes your position from someone merely “being made to wait” into an active participant moving through a defined interaction.

14 | TIMED AUTOMATA

Why make time itself a condition?

Research

In 1994, Rajeev Alur and David Dill formalized Timed Automata, a framework for state transitions that include explicit time conditions. [14]

What the research found

A system can formally specify a rule such as:

“When this state has continued for a defined period, the system may proceed.”

Traditional descriptions of interaction may focus on sequences such as:

“Press the button, then move to the next state.”

Timed systems can also include rules based on duration:

“within three seconds,”

or:

“after remaining in this state for five seconds.”

HAKONE

HAKONE does not treat 60 seconds as a claimed biological or medical “treatment time.”

It uses 60 seconds as a clearly defined Time Boundary within the system.

Why understand this before beginning?

You are not waiting for an unspecified amount of time.

The boundary is explicitly defined.

For 60 seconds, the ordinary flow of interaction is interrupted.

Then the system returns the next decision to you.

The timer is not decoration.

It is part of the architecture.

15 | EVENT GATING

For 60 seconds, do not ask for “next”

An engineering perspective

Ordinary smartphone interaction often proceeds as an event chain:

Swipe → Response → Tap → Response → Swipe → Response

Event Gating refers to controlling whether particular events or actions may proceed until a defined condition—such as time or system state—has been satisfied.

Think of it as a gate.

Until the condition is met, the next stage does not open.

What happens during HAKONE’s 60 seconds?

HAKONE creates a period in which you do not continuously request:

the next post,

the next video,

the next recommendation.

HAKONE

The purpose is not to force an internal psychological change.

The first objective is much simpler:

break the continuity of the operation.

Why understand this before beginning?

The 60 seconds are not there simply to make you wait.

The experience deliberately gates progression for a defined period.

Ordinary digital design often tries to remove every gate.

HAKONE deliberately puts one back.

For 60 seconds, convenience is reversed.

That may feel surprisingly unfamiliar.

16 | AUDITORY FEEDBACK

Change what the system gives back

Research

In 1986, William Gaver studied the use of Auditory Icons in computer interfaces. [15]

What the research found

Computers can communicate system states and events through sound—not only through text and images.

Auditory Feedback means returning information about an action or state through sound.

A click after tapping a button.

A tone when a device begins charging.

An alert when an error occurs.

These are familiar forms of auditory feedback.

HAKONE

During stillness, HAKONE does not reward the user with another image.

Instead, it returns natural sound:

spring water and suikinkutsu water sounds.

Why understand this before the 60-second experience?

The purpose is to temporarily shift the interaction away from a visually dominated stream.

Your finger maintains contact.

Your ears receive the feedback.

The next visual object does not arrive.

This changes the relationship between you and the screen for 60 seconds.

17 | WATER SOUNDSCAPE

Why water?

Research

Jin Yong Jeon and colleagues have studied acoustic characteristics and masking associated with water sounds, while Rachel Buxton and colleagues synthesized research concerning natural sounds. [16][17]

Water Soundscape

A Water Soundscape refers to an acoustic environment created by water:

streams,

waves,

rain,

waterfalls,

droplets,

and other water-generated sounds.

The concept relates to the broader field of soundscape research, associated historically with R. Murray Schafer’s work beginning in the twentieth century.

The important idea is that environmental sound is not simply background audio.

It is part of the environment through which people experience a place.

What the research tells us

Water sounds and natural soundscapes have their own body of research within acoustics and soundscape studies.

HAKONE

HAKONE does not use water sounds as a medical or therapeutic treatment.

They are used as natural auditory feedback that helps shift the interaction away from a screen dominated by constant visual progression.

Why understand this before the 60-second experience?

Because this is not intended to be merely “relaxing background music.”

Water sounds can contain a broad range of frequencies and, depending on the sound and environment, may contribute to acoustic masking of other sounds.

Research into natural soundscapes has also examined their relationship with perceived restoration, stress, attention, and environmental experience.

HAKONE does not claim that a particular sound will produce the same response in every person.

The design purpose is simpler:

for 60 seconds, instead of receiving another image, another notification, or another recommendation, you receive water.

The visual stream pauses.

Sound remains.

The finger remains still.

That is the environment HAKONE calls Digital Zen.

18 | CROSSMODAL INTERACTION

Finger and ear: two channels

Research

Charles Spence has examined Crossmodal Correspondence, while Feng Feng and colleagues have studied interfaces involving multiple sensory channels. [18][19]

Crossmodal Interaction

Crossmodal Interaction refers to interactions in which different sensory channels—such as vision, hearing, and touch—work together within one experience.

What the research found

Multiple sensory channels can be combined within a single interaction.

HAKONE

Your finger maintains physical contact.

Your ears receive auditory feedback.

HAKONE combines the two into one 60-second interaction.

Why understand this before beginning?

This is more than:

“Put your finger on the screen and listen to a sound.”

For a moment, visual consumption is reduced.

The sensation of contact remains at the fingertip.

Water is heard through the ears.

Two channels meet inside one experience.

The result can feel very different from ordinary smartphone interaction.

HAKONE calls this encounter between stillness, touch, and sound:

Digital Zen.

It is not a religious requirement or a medical treatment.

It is a design metaphor for experiencing a digital device differently.

19 | HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP

The human remains inside the system

Research

Tariq Samad has described a range of structures involving Human-in-the-Loop Control. [20]

Human-in-the-Loop

Human-in-the-Loop, or HITL, is an approach in which an automated or AI-enabled system does not make every decision independently.

Human input, judgment, intervention, or correction remains part of the process.

It contrasts with the idea of complete automation.

A simple example

Full Automation — the human is outside the control loop

Imagine a fully automated vehicle in which you provide a destination and the system handles everything else.

Human-in-the-Loop — the human remains inside the control loop

Imagine a training vehicle in which technology can assist, but the human still controls the steering wheel and brake.

The human remains part of the operating system.

HAKONE

HAKONE creates a human–device loop:

You place your finger →
the system recognizes the state →
the system returns sound →
you decide whether to continue or stop.

Why understand this before beginning?

Because the HAKONE experience is not intended to make you passively listen while the system determines what happens next.

Your action remains necessary.

You place the finger.

You keep it there.

You remove it.

You make the next choice.

The human remains in the loop.

20 | HUMAN AGENCY

In the end, you decide

Research

Dan Bennett and colleagues reviewed how Agency and Autonomy have been addressed across roughly three decades of HCI research. [21]

Human Agency

Human Agency refers broadly to the capacity to make choices, pursue intentions, and act rather than simply being carried along by external systems or circumstances.

In contemporary HCI and AI design, the question is increasingly important:

How much room remains for the human being to choose?

What the research tells us

As technology becomes more capable of influencing human behavior, preserving meaningful space for user choice becomes increasingly important.

HAKONE

After the 60 seconds, HAKONE does not decide whether you close your smartphone or continue.

You do.

Why understand this before beginning?

Because these 60 seconds should not be understood simply as time in which “the system forces you to wait.”

They are time in which you deliberately choose to stop.

You step outside the automatic digital flow for a moment.

Then comes the important question:

Do I continue?

or:

Do I put the phone down?

HAKONE returns that decision to you.

That is the central purpose of the 60-second experience.

21 | CALM / REFLECTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Questioning the assumption that “next” always means “go”

Research

Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown discussed Calm Technology, while Phoebe Sengers and colleagues developed approaches to Reflective Design. [22][23]

Calm / Reflective Technology

Calm and Reflective Technology refers to design approaches in which technology does not constantly demand the center of a person’s attention.

Instead, technology can move toward the periphery and create opportunities for awareness, reflection, and deliberate action.

What the research tells us

Technology does not have to continuously capture attention.

It can also be designed to help a person step back from an interaction and reconsider what to do next.

HAKONE

The automatic assumption is:

“There is something next, so go to it.”

HAKONE introduces another option:

“There may be something next—but stop once before deciding.”

A simple analogy: the puppet and the craftsperson

❌ Loss of agency — the puppet

Imagine endlessly following a social-media timeline or recommended-video feed.

The system keeps presenting what comes next, and your finger continues to follow the sequence.

⭕ Human agency — the craftsperson

Imagine a craftsperson using a familiar tool.

A hammer does not decide when to move.

The craftsperson does.

The tool serves the human intention.

Attention-capturing technology

Imagine sitting in a room while someone repeatedly pulls at your sleeve and shouts:

“Look at this!”

“Now this!”

“And this!”

The demand for attention never stops.

Calm / Reflective Technology

Now imagine a plant in the corner of the room, or the weather outside a window.

It does not constantly demand attention.

But when you choose to notice it, you may think:

“The soil looks dry. I should water it.”

or:

“It looks like rain.”

The observation begins with you.

HAKONE

The important question is:

Will you use the device as a tool—and remain the craftsperson?

HAKONE’s 60-second experience creates a small amount of space in your attention through stillness and sound.

But after the 60 seconds, HAKONE does not command you to leave.

You may close the smartphone and return to the physical world.

Or you may decide that you still have a reason to continue.

The decision remains yours.

HAKONE does not imprison you inside its own intervention.

Leaving the final choice with the human being is one of the most important principles of the 60-second experience.

22 | IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION

Decide the next action before you need it

Research

In 2021, Mark Elliott and colleagues tested an IF–THEN Implementation Intention intervention in a randomized controlled trial concerning mobile-phone use while driving. [24]

Implementation Intention

Implementation Intention is a behavioral planning approach associated with psychologist Peter Gollwitzer.

The basic idea is simple:

IF a particular situation occurs, THEN I will perform a particular action.

This approach is also commonly described as If–Then Planning and has been widely studied as a way of translating intentions into actions.

What the research found

Pre-linking a particular situation with a particular response can influence behavior when that situation later occurs.

HAKONE

IF: I notice that I want to stop, but I am still scrolling.

THEN: I open HAKONE and keep my finger still for 60 seconds.

Why understand this before beginning?

Because HAKONE is not intended to become just another app feature that you remember after the moment has already passed.

The intention is to create a simple rule that can be recalled at the point where you need an exit.

Instead of waiting until the moment arrives and asking:

“Do I have enough willpower to stop?”

you can decide the response in advance:

IF I notice that I am continuing to use my phone automatically even though I want to stop, THEN I open HAKONE and place my finger on the screen for 60 seconds.

The choice has already been prepared.

AND NOW — 60 SECONDS

These 22 areas of research do not prove HAKONE itself.

They investigate different questions:

Habit.

Attention.

Friction.

Boundaries.

Time.

Embodied input.

Sound.

Choice.

HAKONE brings design principles that are consistent with these areas of research together into one interface:

Keep your finger still for 60 seconds.

So what you are about to do is not simply:

listen to water for 60 seconds.

You are placing a boundary, with your own hand, inside an interaction that could otherwise continue without a natural endpoint.

Place your finger on the screen.

Do not move it.

Do not ask for the next thing.

For 60 seconds.

Then—

do you continue?

Or do you put the smartphone down?

That choice returns to you.

Place your finger on the screen.

For 60 seconds, stop the familiar relationship in which:

“If I move, something else arrives.”

This time,

stillness is the input.

And the next move belongs to you.