Thank you for your interest in the Reduce Digital Distraction workshop! The workshop is an evidence-based and effective way to take control over your digital device use.

If you are curious about the research behind it, have a look at the research section of our website.

On this page you can read what happens in a workshop, and how (if you opt-in to this) we use anonymised data contribute to digital wellbeing research.

Who we are

What does the ReDD workshop involve?

1. The workshop! It takes 2 hours and usually has 8-24 participants.
   You (i) articulate changes you want to make, (ii) explore effective strategies to help (from tools that remove distracting elements on websites, to ones that remind of your intention when you open specific apps), (iii) implement the things most likely to help you.
2. A ‘Note to Future Me’ where you write down what you want to change and what strategies you want to try. This includes a brief ‘Digital Wellbeing Check’, asking how you’ve been feeling about your use up until the workshop.
3. One month later, a Digital Wellbeing Check helps you reflect on what you tried and what worked.

What information is collected?

1. Workshop: text written on virtual post-its about digital challenges and goals.
2. Digital Wellbeing Checks: basic device use information and demographics, notes on what strategies to try (and how useful it was), and scores on the Brief Digital Self-Control Scale and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale.

We use this information to make the workshop effective (e.g., one week after the workshop, we remind you of what you wanted to try).

At the end of the workshop, you can opt-in to allow anonymised information to be used to contribute to research on digital wellbeing.

What are the benefits of allowing anonymised data to be used for research?

Digital distraction is an important challenge in society. If people can’t control their device use, it can have serious negative effects on productivity and mental wellbeing.

Our purpose with using anonymised data for research is to identify effective ways to help people stay in control, and make this knowledge publicly available.

What happens to the data?

We anonymise text data by removing or changing any information that could identify you. We don’t store any permanent link between your personal identity and the research data.

The survey data are stored on our secure server in Frankfurt (hosted with Digital Ocean). All research data and records will be stored for at least 3 years.

What if I don’t want to let my information be used for research anyway?

Even after you have agreed to take part, you can withdraw at any time without giving any reason.
If any research data has been collected before you withdraw, this data will be destroyed.

What happens to the results?

Information from the workshop helps us improve it, for the benefit of future participants. It may also contribute to human-computer interaction research, and be published in venues such as the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (see our latest research for an example).

Who approves the research part of the ReDD project?

Our research is a collaboration with Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt’s Human Centred Computing Group, and receives ethical approval through the University of Oxford Computer Science Departmental Research Ethics Committee (Reference number: CS_C1A_19_027_05).

Who organises and funds the research?

The research is organised, funded and carried out by the Reduce Digital Distraction Project, led by Dr Ulrik Lyngs, in close collaboration with Sir Nigel Shadbolt.

What if something goes wrong?

If a person is ever considered to have suffered harm through participation in research, the University of Oxford has arrangements in place to provide for compensation.
If you have a concern about any aspect of this project, please contact Dr Ulrik Lyngs, who will do his best to answer your query.
If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, you may contact the University of Oxford’s Departmental Research Ethics Committee on ethics@cs.ox.ac.uk.

Contact details

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the workshop further, please contact:

Dr Ulrik Lyngs
Head of the Reduce Digital Distraction Project
Email: ulrik@redd-project.org / ulrikl@di.ku.dk
Tel.: +45 31 62 05 51