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Reducing Risk in Digital Self-Control Tools: Design Patterns and Prototype

Published: 08 May 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Many users take advantage of digital self-control tools to self-regulate their device usage through interventions such as timers and lockout mechanisms. One of the major challenges faced by these tools is the user reacting against their self-imposed constraints and abandoning the tool. Although lower-risk interventions would reduce the likelihood of abandonment, previous research on digital self-control tools has left this area of study relatively unexplored. In response, this paper contributes two foundational principles relating risk and effectiveness; four widely applicable novel design patterns for reducing risk of abandonment of digital self-control tools (continuously variable interventions, anti-aging design, obligatory bundling of interventions, and intermediary control systems); and a prototype digital self-control tool that implements these four low-risk design patterns.

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '21: Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 2021
2965 pages
ISBN:9781450380959
DOI:10.1145/3411763
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  1. DBCI
  2. DSCT
  3. Digital self-control tool
  4. design pattern
  5. digital behavior control intervention
  6. digital wellbeing
  7. online controlled experiment

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  • (2024)Hey StepByStep! Can you teach me how to use my phone better?International Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103195183:COnline publication date: 14-Mar-2024
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