Self-Control in Cyberspace

Lyngs, Ulrik; Lukoff, Kai; Slovák, Petr; Binns, Reuben; Slack, Adam; Inzlicht, Michael; Kleek, Max Van; Shadbolt, Nigel

doi:10.1145/3290605.3300361

Cited by 98 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 154 publications

(217 reference statements)

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“…For example, upon switching windows, users may be presented with a message regarding their switching behaviour, prompting them to reflect on whether it is necessary to switch immediately, or whether they should postpone this switch to collect the required information later. Showing a message at the moment of switching windows fits with the model proposed by Lyngs et al [26], which uses the underlying cognitive mechanisms of self-regulation to frame self-regulation difficulties in ICT use. From the perspective of the model, difficulties occur because at the time of action, people's usage goals are either not strongly represented in working memory, or the value of meeting these goals is too low to control behaviour.…”

Section: Design Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Several participants disliked the feeling that the software was controlling them, and rather wanted to learn how to gain control themselves over their work and interruptions. In line with this finding, Lyngs et al [26] argue for supporting people to develop their own regulation strategies. They evaluated 367 apps and browser extensions that aim to support digital self-control, and found that blocking distractions or removing features were the most common approaches.…”

Section: Interventions To Improve Focusmentioning

confidence: 85%

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TimeToFocus

Borghouts

Brumby

Cox

2020

ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact.

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Many computer tasks involve looking up information from different sources. Such interruptions to a task can be disruptive. In this paper, we investigate whether giving people feedback on how long they are away from their task influences their self-interruption behaviour. We conducted a contextual inquiry on self-interruption behaviour in an office workplace. Participants were observed to postpone physical interruptions until a convenient moment in the task if they were expected to take time. In contrast, observations revealed that digital interruptions were addressed immediately; participants reported these were presumed to be quick to deal with. To increase awareness of time spent on interruptions, we developed TimeToFocus, a notification tool showing people the duration of their interruptions. A field study deployment of TimeToFocus in an office workplace found that feedback on the duration of interruptions made participants reflect on what they were doing during interruptions. They reported that they used this insight to avoid task-irrelevant activities. To confirm whether participants' perceptions of the benefit of the tool could be measured, we conducted an online experiment, where participants had to retrieve information from an email sent to their personal email addresses and enter it into a spreadsheet. Participants who used our tool made shorter interruptions, completed the spreadsheet task faster, and made fewer data entry errors. We conclude that feedback on the length of interruptions can assist users in focusing on their primary task and thus improve productivity. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI.

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Section: Design Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Interventions To Improve Focusmentioning

confidence: 85%

TimeToFocus

Borghouts

Brumby

Cox

2020

ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact.

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“…With rising concerns over problematic technology use, HCI research in recent years has begun promoting, or designing for, 'digital wellbeing' or enhanced 'self-control' [21,69,74]. In this space, technology use interventions have been: designed or experimented with in HCI [26, 60-62, 65, 71, 100]; deployed within operating systems (e.g.…”

Section: Favouring In Social Media Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…app usage limits) and utilise action schema competition to control user behaviour (e.g. app removal) [69]. These app usage and blockers can be used for all types of services -not just social media.…”

Section: Favouring In Social Media Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Backfiring and favouring: how design processes in HCI lead to anti-patterns and repentant designers

Widdicks

Pargman

Björk

2020

Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society

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Design is typically envisioned as aiming to improve situations for users, but this can fail. Failure can be the result of flawed design solutions, i.e. anti-patterns. Prior work in anti-patterns has largely focused on their characteristics. We instead concentrate on why they occur by outlining two processes that result in anti-patterns: 1) backfiring, and 2) favouring. The purpose of the paper is to help designers and researchers better understand how design processes can lead to negative impacts and to repentant designers by introducing a richer vocabulary for discussing such processes. We explore how anti-patterns evolve in HCI by specifically applying the vocabulary to examples of social media design. We believe that highlighting these processes will help the HCI community reflect on their own work and also raise awareness of the opportunities for avoiding anti-patterns. Our hope is that this will result in fewer negative experiences for designers and users alike. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → HCI design and evaluation methods.

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“…usage tracking and data visualisations) and interventions (e.g. phone and app timers or blockers) [48]; Lyngs et al similarly categorise 'digital self-control tools' into themes of self-tracking, service blocking or removal, goal-setting, and reward or punishment mechanisms [45].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the Good Turns Ugly: Speculating Next Steps for Digital Wellbeing Tools

Widdicks

2020

Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society

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Concerns surrounding technology use in society has led to the HCI community creating tools for 'digital wellbeing'. These aim to improve users' relationships with technology, but these positively motivated tools may initiate further negative impacts for users e.g. on their privacy or autonomy. Using Pierce's speculative design concepts of 'foot-in-the-door' technologies and focusing on three common digital wellbeing features (time limits and prompts, social 'do not disturb' modes, app and service blocking), I highlight how these tools are a small step away from being used to manipulate users which could enact slow shifts in users accepting such manipulation. Through this and the discussion, I accentuate that positively motivated designs may not explicitly lead to positive interactions by default. I hope this paper will facilitate speculative design and discussion in the digital wellbeing community, to ensure that our designs continue to mitigate negative impacts from technology now and in the future.

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Self-Control in Cyberspace

Cited by 98 publications

References 154 publications

TimeToFocus

TimeToFocus

Backfiring and favouring: how design processes in HCI lead to anti-patterns and repentant designers

When the Good Turns Ugly: Speculating Next Steps for Digital Wellbeing Tools

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