Flow experiences in information technology use

An interview was used to determine, whether flow experiences as defined by Csikszentmihalyi would occur in information technology use. Results indicate, that flow experience is quite frequent while performing a variety of tasks ranging from word processing to programming to visual design and information search on a desktop computer. Also flow experiences seem to occur while using a range of software matching the variety of tasks mentioned above. Participants named factors they thought were causing flow experiences while using information technology. These include almost exclusively items that are generally accepted as good usability. This leads to the concluding hypothesis that designing interfaces that induce flow experiences is to design good usability and vice versa. More research is needed to confirm this.