Appendix D: Templates and Worksheets — Practical Tools for Digital Agency

A Note on Using These Tools

The worksheets in this appendix are designed to be used, not read. The distinction matters. Reading about dark patterns and attention engineering is valuable; observing these mechanisms operating in your own specific life is transformative.

You do not need to complete all six tools at once. Some — the Personal Technology Audit and Algorithmic Audit Log — require sustained engagement over days or weeks. Others — the Dark Pattern Checklist and Ethical Design Rubric — are designed for single-sitting use. The FOMO Scale and Personal Digital Values Statement sit in between: each takes under thirty minutes but rewards revisiting over time.

A practical suggestion: start with the FOMO Scale to establish a baseline self-understanding, then run the 7-day Technology Audit to observe your actual behavior, then return to the Values Statement to articulate what you want to do differently. The other tools can be used as needed from there.

All worksheets in this appendix are in the public domain. You may reproduce, modify, and distribute them freely.

Worksheet 1: Personal Technology Audit — 7-Day Self-Assessment

Purpose

Most people significantly underestimate how much time they spend on social media and significantly overestimate the quality of that time. This audit creates an objective record over one week — enough time to establish patterns without requiring an unsustainable tracking commitment.

The audit has three components: time tracking, emotional state logging, and trigger identification. Completing all three gives you data you can actually use.

Instructions

Complete each day's entry within two hours of the end of your day (or in real time if you prefer).
Use your device's built-in Screen Time (iOS) or Digital Wellbeing (Android) app for the usage numbers — self-estimation is unreliable. Record the numbers, not your impression of them.
Be honest in the emotional state entries. No one sees this but you.

Part A: Daily Screen Time Log

Copy this table for each of the 7 days. Fill in actual time (from device settings) for each platform.

Day __ Date: ____

Platform / App	Morning (6am–12pm)	Afternoon (12pm–6pm)	Evening (6pm–12am)	Total for Day
Instagram
TikTok
Twitter / X
Facebook
YouTube
Reddit
LinkedIn
Messaging apps (total)
News apps (total)
Other: __
DAILY TOTAL

Total screen time for all apps (from device settings): _____

Social media as % of total screen time: _____

Part B: Emotional State Log

Rate your emotional state on a 1–10 scale (1 = very low / distressed, 10 = very high / content) and add a brief note.

Session	Platform	Duration	Mood BEFORE (1–10)	Mood AFTER (1–10)	Change (+/-)	Notes (what were you feeling?)
1
2
3
4
5
6

Daily emotional summary: - Did social media use improve, worsen, or not change your mood today overall? __ - Which session left you feeling worst? What were you doing? __ - Which session left you feeling best? What were you doing? _____

Part C: Trigger Identification Log

For each significant use session (more than 10 minutes), record what triggered it.

Session	Trigger (what prompted you to open the app?)	Intended duration	Actual duration	Match?
1
2
3
4
5

Trigger categories (check all that appear in your log): - [ ] Boredom / idle moment (waiting, transitioning) - [ ] Anxiety / emotional distress (seeking distraction) - [ ] Social obligation (responding to messages, notifications) - [ ] Habit (automatic opening with no conscious trigger) - [ ] Genuine need (looking up specific information) - [ ] Seeking entertainment (intentional relaxation) - [ ] Fear of missing out (checked because something might be happening) - [ ] Other: ___

Part D: Weekly Summary Reflection

Complete these questions at the end of Day 7. Take at least 20 minutes and write substantive answers rather than single words.

1. Total weekly social media time: _____ Compare this to your estimate before you started tracking. Were you surprised? More or less than you expected?

2. Pattern analysis: - What platform consumed the most time? - What time of day was your heaviest use period? - Were your heaviest use days predictably different from lighter days (e.g., weekdays vs. weekends, stressed days vs. calm days)?

3. Emotional patterns: - Looking across all your mood-before vs. mood-after entries: did social media use, on average, improve or worsen your emotional state? - Which platform was most consistently positive? Most consistently negative? - Are there any conditions under which social media use seemed to reliably help you? (Be specific — "connecting with close friends after a hard day" is more useful than "sometimes.")

4. Trigger patterns: - What percentage of your sessions began with a genuine, intentional purpose? - What percentage began with habit or anxiety? - What would you have done with that time if the app hadn't been there?

5. The gap between intention and behavior: Look at your intended vs. actual duration column. How often did you stay longer than you meant to? Which platforms showed the largest gap between intention and actual duration? What does this suggest about how those platforms are designed?

6. If you could change one thing about your social media behavior based on this week's data, what would it be? Why that specific thing?

Worksheet 2: Dark Pattern Identification Checklist

Purpose

This checklist is designed to help you audit any digital interface — a social media app, a website, a game, an e-commerce platform — for the presence of dark patterns. It can be used for systematic platform analysis, for classroom or workshop use, or for personal awareness when you feel a platform is manipulating your behavior but cannot name how.

Instructions

Walk through each item in the context of a specific platform or interface you want to evaluate. Mark each item as: Present / Absent / Uncertain. After completing the checklist, count the number of items marked Present. A brief interpretation guide follows.

Category 1: Notification Manipulation

[ ] Default-on notifications: All notification types are enabled by default; turning them off requires multiple steps.
[ ] Urgency language in notifications: Notifications use time-pressured language ("Don't miss this," "Happening now," "Before it's gone").
[ ] Badge counts: Unread counts displayed on app icons before the app is opened, creating persistent low-level anxiety.
[ ] Notification bundling delay: Notifications are delayed and then delivered in batches to create a false sense of accumulated social activity.
[ ] Re-engagement notifications: Notifications are sent specifically to users who have been inactive, designed to pull them back rather than to communicate genuine social information.
[ ] Misleading notification content: Notification preview text is vague or misleading to maximize opens ("Someone commented on your post" rather than telling you what they said).
[ ] Email notification overlap: You receive email notifications duplicating in-app notifications, creating multiple simultaneous interruption channels.

[ ] Public like/reaction counts: Approval metrics are visible to everyone, creating social pressure to perform well and anxiety when performance is poor.
[ ] Public follower/friend counts: Social status metrics are prominently displayed and unavoidable.
[ ] Streak mechanics: Consecutive-day use is tracked and displayed, creating loss aversion (fear of breaking the streak) that compels daily use regardless of value.
[ ] Read receipts (non-optional): You cannot disable read receipt indicators, creating social obligation to respond immediately.
[ ] Online status indicators: Your live activity status is visible to others by default, creating social pressure around response times.
[ ] Comparative display of metrics: Your metrics are displayed alongside others' (how your engagement compares to similar accounts, who is "trending").
[ ] Social validation through visible engagement: Comments and reactions from others are prominently displayed as social proof to encourage conformity.

Category 3: Friction Asymmetry (Easy In, Hard Out)

[ ] One-click engagement, multi-step disengagement: Subscribing, following, or creating an account takes seconds; unsubscribing, unfollowing, or deleting takes multiple steps across multiple pages.
[ ] Account deletion buried in settings: The option to delete your account is not in an obvious location; finding it requires multiple navigation steps.
[ ] Data portability obstacles: Downloading your own data is complicated, unintuitive, or produces formats that are difficult to use.
[ ] Exit confirmation dark patterns: When you try to leave or delete, you are shown emotionally manipulative messages ("Are you sure? You'll lose your memories") rather than neutral confirmations.
[ ] Subscription cancellation friction: Cancelling a paid subscription requires contacting support or navigating multiple confirmation screens, while signing up was a single click.
[ ] Social cost of exit: The platform emphasizes what you will lose socially by leaving (your friends won't see you, your followers will lose updates) rather than what you gain.

Category 4: Attention Trap Features

[ ] Infinite scroll: Content feeds have no natural stopping point; the user must actively choose to stop rather than reaching an end.
[ ] Autoplay: Video or audio content begins playing automatically after the previous item ends, without active choice.
[ ] Variable reward feeds: The feed mixes highly engaging content with ordinary content unpredictably, creating the same reinforcement pattern as a slot machine.
[ ] Pull-to-refresh: A gesture interaction that triggers the same anticipatory reward cycle as pulling a slot machine lever.
[ ] "You're all caught up" / "See older posts": After genuine completion, the platform offers to extend engagement with lower-quality content rather than allowing a natural exit.
[ ] Cross-content recommendations: After completing one piece of content, immediate recommendations begin loading the next without pause.
[ ] Content that rewards longer viewing: The algorithm explicitly promotes content that keeps you watching longer, regardless of whether longer content is better.

Category 5: Data Collection Deception

[ ] Privacy theater consent interfaces: Cookie consent and privacy dialogs are designed to make the "Accept All" option visually prominent and the privacy-protective option hidden or small.
[ ] Pre-ticked data sharing boxes: Data sharing options are pre-selected by default; opting out requires active unchecking.
[ ] Impossible-to-understand privacy policies: Privacy policies are written to technically satisfy legal disclosure requirements while being practically incomprehensible.
[ ] Off-platform tracking: The platform collects data about your behavior on other websites and apps without making this prominent in consent flows.
[ ] Inferred sensitive data: Data about religion, politics, health, sexuality, or ethnicity is inferred from behavior and used for targeting without explicit disclosure.
[ ] "Improving your experience" framing: Data collection that primarily serves advertising targeting is described as improving your user experience.

Scoring Interpretation

0–5 items present: Low dark pattern density. The platform has some concerning features but is relatively respectful of user autonomy. Worth monitoring for pattern increases.

6–12 items present: Moderate dark pattern density. The platform uses multiple psychological manipulation techniques, though not all. Be aware of specific patterns present and consider whether they affect your behavior.

13–20 items present: High dark pattern density. The platform is systematically designed to override user autonomy and maximize engagement at the expense of user well-being. Intentional use protocols are strongly advisable.

21+ items present: Very high dark pattern density. Nearly every feature of this platform is oriented toward capturing and holding attention through psychological manipulation. Significant caution warranted.

Worksheet 3: FOMO Assessment Scale

Purpose

This scale is adapted from the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) scale developed by Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan, and Gladwell (2013), published in Computers in Human Behavior. The original scale is validated and widely used in social media research; this version adapts the wording for self-assessment purposes. It is intended for self-reflection, not clinical diagnosis.

Instructions

Rate each item from 1 to 5 using the scale below. Answer based on how you generally feel, not how you feel on particularly good or bad days.

1 = Not at all true of me 2 = Slightly true of me 3 = Moderately true of me 4 = Quite true of me 5 = Extremely true of me

#	Statement	Rating (1–5)
1	I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.
2	I fear my friends have more rewarding experiences than me.
3	I get worried when I find out my friends are having fun without me.
4	I get anxious when I don't know what my friends are up to.
5	It is important to me to understand my friends' "in jokes."
6	Sometimes I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going on.
7	It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.
8	When I miss a planned get-together, it bothers me.
9	When I go on vacation, I continue to keep tabs on what my friends are doing.
10	When I have a good time, it is important for me to share the details online.

Total Score: _____ (Add all 10 ratings)

Scoring and Interpretation

10–20: Low FoMO. You generally feel secure in your social connections and do not feel strong anxiety about missing out on others' experiences. Social media is likely not a significant source of anxiety for you, though specific platforms or life circumstances might still trigger FoMO responses.

21–30: Moderate FoMO. You experience some anxiety about missing out on social experiences and likely check social media somewhat compulsively at times. You may find that your social media use is partly driven by anxiety rather than genuine desire to connect or be entertained.

31–40: High FoMO. Social anxiety about missing out is a significant feature of your relationship with social media. Your use is likely substantially driven by the need to feel included and up-to-date rather than by the intrinsic value of the content. This level of FoMO is associated with lower overall life satisfaction and greater susceptibility to engagement manipulation.

41–50: Very high FoMO. FoMO is a dominant force in your social media use. The anxiety about missing out may be causing you to use platforms in ways that are not aligned with your own values or goals. This score range is associated with significant well-being costs and may warrant deliberate intervention.

Reflection Questions

After scoring, take a few minutes to respond to these questions in writing:

Which specific items had your highest ratings? What do they suggest about the specific fears driving your social media use?
Think of a specific recent situation where FoMO affected your behavior (checking your phone during dinner, staying up late scrolling, posting something primarily to make others aware of your experience). What were you actually afraid of?
Consider the relationship between your FoMO score and your technology audit data (if you completed Worksheet 1). Does the score feel consistent with what you observed about your usage triggers?
What would it actually cost you — concretely — if you missed an update, a trend, or a social event in the next 24 hours? Is that cost real, or imagined?
FoMO is partly a social media design feature, not just a personality trait — platforms are specifically designed to trigger it. Knowing this, does your score feel like information about you, about the platform, or both?

Worksheet 4: Ethical Design Evaluation Rubric

Purpose

This rubric provides a structured framework for evaluating whether a specific digital platform feature serves its users or exploits them. It can be used to evaluate an existing feature, to compare two competing platforms, or as a design tool for practitioners creating digital products.

Instructions

Select a specific platform feature to evaluate (e.g., Instagram's suggested posts feed, TikTok's For You Page, Twitter's trending topics, Snapchat's Streaks, LinkedIn's "People Also Viewed" sidebar). Rate the feature on each of the five dimensions below using the anchor descriptions. Then total your score and consult the interpretation guide.

Feature being evaluated: ____ Platform: ____ Date of evaluation: _______

Does the user understand what this feature does and how it works? Was consent to the feature's operation genuinely informed and freely given?

Score	Anchor Description
1	The feature operates invisibly; users have no meaningful understanding of how it works or that it is operating. No consent mechanism exists or it is purely nominal.
3	Some disclosure of the feature exists in documentation (privacy policy, help center) but it is not presented at the point of use. Most users would be unaware of the mechanism even if they had technically consented to terms of service.
5	The feature's operation is clearly explained at the point of introduction and at intervals during use. Users can see exactly why they are being shown this content or experiencing this feature. Consent is actively given rather than assumed from a general terms-of-service click.