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Exploring Trigger-Action Programs for Designing Self-Control Tools in Mobile Devices

Published: 21 September 2024 Publication History

Abstract

Individuals may spend three to five hours interacting with their smartphone screens daily. Many of them want to reduce their screen time but fail–despite the many digital wellbeing tools currently available. For example, digital self-control tools (DSCTs) support user self-control of digital device use through awareness of usage patterns or letting users set time limits for specific websites, but their effectiveness in the long term remains little explored. We conducted 7 focus groups with 39 participants to investigate the use and non-use of current DSCTs in mobile devices. We further explored user attitudes about trigger-action programming (TAP, if-this-then-that rules) in designing customized DSCTs and elicited their preferences via a sketching session during the focus groups. Data analysis was grounded in the framework of the Habit Alteration Model. Findings show how nuanced individual self-control needs can be met with TAPs. Two smartphone design prototypes are presented to demonstrate our study findings.

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      cover image ACM Conferences
      MobileHCI '24 Adjunct: Adjunct Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction
      September 2024
      252 pages
      ISBN:9798400705069
      DOI:10.1145/3640471
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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      Published: 21 September 2024

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      Author Tags

      1. DSCTs
      2. Digital wellbeing
      3. HCI
      4. Mobile devices
      5. TAP

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      MobileHCI '24
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      MobileHCI '24: 26th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction
      September 30 - October 3, 2024
      VIC, Melbourne, Australia

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