Collaborative research programme mitigates dangers of digital distractions

Research Associate Ulrik Lyngs’ research project works to highlight the dangers of digital distractions and devises strategies to counter their effects

In our increasingly computerised world, digital noise is having an evermore detrimental impact on productivity and wellbeing in the workplace and beyond. A research project, led by Research Associate Ulrik Lyngs, is highlighting the dangers of these digital distractions and working with stakeholders to devise strategies to counter their adverse effects.

The ReDD (Reduce Digital Distraction) project is the result of a collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Counselling Service. The collaboration was set up with the aim of solving the issue of staff and students struggling with the impacts of digital distractions on their wellbeing. The University Counselling Service was seeing an increasing number of students struggling with time management and focus when it came to using the digital devices essential for academic studies.

The counselling service didn’t have a resource to help students combat unhealthy relationships with smartphones or laptops. This is where the collaboration began, as Ulrik’s PhD research was focused on the practical ways in which people can use ‘digital focus tools’ to control their use of digital devices. In May 2019, Ulrik and Maureen Freed (deputy head of counselling at Oxford at the time) started running in-person workshops.

As workshops form a central element of the research, five pilot sessions were run with Oxford students between May 2019 and March 2020. In these collaborative workshops students were encouraged to discuss their challenges with one another, before Ulrik introduced the digital focus tools.

The popularity of the workshops only increased when COVID hit, so Ulrik developed an online version informed by the initial pilots and delivered it in Michaelmas 2020 with a limited number of students. Since Hilary 2021, the workshops have been delivered every term.

Being able to control our time and attention in digital life is essential for all of us today. Many people struggle with this, especially those with ADHD. Our workshop is a simple and effective intervention that empowers people to restructure their devices to make it easier to stay in control. It is the culmination of almost a decade of work, with over 40 researchers, mental health experts and student service staff contributing to the workshop development since its creation in 2019. Research Associate Ulrik Lyngs

Some of the digital focus tools introduced in the workshops include:

• Track yourself

Use of a tracking tool to see how much time is spent in which apps.

• Block or remove distractions

Out of sight, out of mind: blocking websites, hiding features, limiting notifications, decluttering home screens.

• Make your goals attractive

Focussing in bursts with a timer, adding rewards or punishments, going greyscale.

• Keep your goals in mind

Keeping quotes and reminders around you to keep motivation.

The engagement with staff and students through workshops significantly enhanced the impact of the research, with the workshops responding to and addressing a real-world challenge with proven success.

The ReDD team follow up with participants after the workshops to evaluate the usefulness and success of the tools provided in the sessions. Student participation data was analysed to get an understanding of what worked best; surveys asked participants about their digital self-control before they took part and after, and the mean increase was by 7.9 points on the scale.

In June, Ulrik welcomed partner universities to an event held in the Natural History Museum, to reflect on and celebrate the project journey and its results and impact to date. Partner universities shared their own experiences of running the workshops and their excitement around its future potential. Discussions suggested that the process of developing the workshops with input from expert researchers and practitioners was well received and good practice.

The ReDD project has been a success with both measurable evidence in the survey results, and the direct feedback from partner universities and participants. The first major paper from this research project, ‘The ReDD Workshop: A Template for Supporting People in Regaining Control Over Digital Device Use’, was also recognised for its success. The paper won an ‘honourable mention’ at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) (https://programs.sigchi.org/chi/2024/program/content/147658). Ulrik has also been awarded an MPLS Early-Career Social Impact Award 2024 for the ReDD workshop. Read more about this award here: https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/news/2346-full.html