Topic 02
Interruptions and attention
What a ping, a switch or an unfinished task costs the mind.
A notification costs attention even when it is ignored, and switching away from unfinished work leaves part of the mind behind. People make up for interruptions by working faster, and pay for it in stress.
The answer the research points to is not total silence, which brings its own anxiety, but fewer, grouped signals and waiting for natural breaks.
Notes
Questions in this topic
- 01Do phone notifications hurt focus, even if I don't check them?Yes. In a 2015 Florida State University experiment, simply receiving a notification hurt performance on an attention-demanding task about as much as calling or texting, even when people never touched the phone. In a field experiment with 221 adults (Kushlev et al., 2016), people reported more inattention in the week their alerts were on.Interruptions and attention
- 02Should I turn off notifications completely, or batch them?The best evidence favours batching. In a randomized field experiment with 237 people (Duke and Georgetown, 2019), getting notifications in three batches a day made people feel more attentive, productive and in control than the usual stream, while getting none brought few of those benefits and more anxiety and fear of missing out.Interruptions and attention
- 03Why is it so hard to get back to work after an interruption?Because part of your attention stays with the task you left. Sophie Leroy's 2009 experiments at the University of Minnesota call this attention residue: people who switched before finishing did worse on the next task, and a 2008 study by UC Irvine and Humboldt University researchers found interrupted people sped up to compensate, at the cost of more stress and frustration.Interruptions and attention
12 sources
What this topic rests on
- 2016My Phone and Me: Understanding People's Receptivity to Mobile NotificationsMehrotra A, Pejovic V, Vermeulen J, Hendley R, Musolesi M · Proceedings of CHI 2016, 1021–1032University of Birmingham · University College London · University of Ljubljana · University of CalgaryField study with phone logging and experience sampling
- 2015The attentional cost of receiving a cell phone notificationStothart C, Mitchum A, Yehnert C · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 41(4):893–897Florida State UniversityLab experiment
- 2016"Silence Your Phones": Smartphone Notifications Increase Inattention and Hyperactivity SymptomsKushlev K, Proulx JDE, Dunn EW · Proceedings of CHI 2016, 1011–1020University of Virginia · University of British ColumbiaField experiment, two one-week conditions
- 2014An in-situ study of mobile phone notificationsPielot M, Church K, de Oliveira R · Proceedings of MobileHCI 2014Telefónica ResearchField study with phone logging and diaries
- 2017Productive, Anxious, Lonely: 24 Hours Without Push NotificationsPielot M, Rello L · Proceedings of MobileHCI 2017Telefónica ResearchField experiment: a day without notifications against a normal day
- 2019Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-beingFitz N, Kushlev K, Jagannathan R, Lewis T, Paliwal D, Ariely D · Computers in Human Behavior 101:84–94Duke University · Georgetown UniversityRandomized field experiment
- 2015Checking email less frequently reduces stressKushlev K, Dunn EW · Computers in Human Behavior 43:220–228University of British ColumbiaWithin-person field experiment
- 2008Effects of intelligent notification management on users and their tasksIqbal ST, Bailey BP · Proceedings of CHI 2008University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignSystem with two user studies
- 2008The cost of interrupted work: more speed and stressMark G, Gudith D, Klocke U · Proceedings of CHI 2008, 107–110University of California, Irvine · Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinLab experiment
- 2004If Not Now, When? The Effects of Interruption at Different Moments Within Task ExecutionAdamczyk PD, Bailey BP · Proceedings of CHI 2004, 271–278University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignLab experiment
- 2009Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasksLeroy S · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 109(2):168–181University of MinnesotaTwo lab experiments
- 1999Attention-Sensitive AlertingHorvitz E, Jacobs A, Hovel D · Proceedings of UAI 1999, 305–313Microsoft ResearchDecision-theory model and system
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