Nudging through Technology: Choice Architectures and the Mobile Information Revolution

The information revolution has radically changed the way we make decisions and has expanded into mobile devices capable of informing choices at the point at which they are made. However, it is arguable whether the explosion of available information helps or hinders decision making, including in important domains such as healthcare and sustainability. Improving on that is the domain of choice architecture, intended to provide decision-knowledge through understanding choice-implications and so guiding actions in effective and ethical directions (i.e. 'nudging'). Social media has largely evolved as the significant means of choice architecture, but the question remains as to whether decisions based on it are truly effective and ethical, or attracted toward social norms that reinforce poor judgment. This paper explores those issues, including how technologies can be shaped to improve decision-making, and how academic models can be used to nudge toward improved norms.