DIKU Bits: Empowering Students to Achieve Their Device Use Goals With the Reduce Digital Distraction Workshop

Portrait of Ulrik Lyngs

Title

“I finally felt I had the tools to control these urges”: Empowering Students to Achieve Their Device Use Goals With the Reduce Digital Distraction Workshop

Speaker

Ulrik Lyngs, External Postdoc in the Human-Centred Computing (HCC) section.

Abstract

Smartphones, laptops, and other digital devices give us super powers. But they can also make us super distracted. Constant notifications disrupt focus, and clickbait-filled newsfeeds keep us hooked. How can we take back control? I present results from 'Reduce Digital Distraction' workshops run with students (n=280), who reflected on their challenges, and applied digital self-control tools to help (e.g., distraction blocking). I discuss how restructuring digital environments support self-control.

Which courses do you teach? (BSc and MSc)

I don't teach at KU, but I've taught tools for reproducible research, as well as big data analytics, at the University of Oxford

Which technology/research/projects/startup are you excited to see the evolution of?

I am mostly interested in the evolution of digital self-control tools, in particular tools for directly restructuring user interfaces to support their goals.