Distraction or Life Saver?

Abstract

Previous research has shown that communication technologies may make it challenging for working professionals to manage the boundaries between their work life and home life. For college students, however, there is a less clear definition of what constitutes work and what constitutes home life. As a result, students may use different boundary management strategies than working professionals. To explore this issue, we interviewed 29 undergraduates about how they managed boundaries between different areas of their life. Interviewees reported maintaining flexible and permeable boundaries that are not bounded physically or temporally. They used both technological and non-technological strategies to manage different life spheres. Interviewees saw technology as a major source of boundary violations but also as a boundary managing strategy that allowed them to achieve better life balance. Based on these findings, we propose design implications for tools to better support the boundary management processes of undergraduate students.

Defining Digital Wellbeing Literacy in Remote Work Integrated Learning

“…While remote working has the potential to enable a better worklife balance and wellbeing, because of the minimized commute time and improved flexibility in juggling personal commitments (Cho et al, 2022;Lima & Souza, 2017;Tamunomiebi & Oyibo, 2020), the boundaries between work and life must be continually managed to achieve and maintain improved work-life balance. This is challenging for working professionals, and even more difficult for HE students (Cho et al, 2022;Lim et al, 2017), including WIL students. Work-life balance has been reportedly a challenge for many students, especially at the early stages of WIL programs (An et al, 2021).…”

InteractOut: Leveraging Interaction Proxies as Input Manipulation Strategies for Reducing Smartphone Overuse

“…In this theory, human behaviors are mentally controlled by two "systems" of thinking: an intuitional, unconscious, and spontaneous process (System 1) and an analytical, self-aware, and deliberative process (System 2). To engage users, app designers often try to cater to one's desire for immediate gratification and override their logical thinking [40,44,67].…”