Paper Abstract
"It has been argued that consuming social and micro-targeted digital content rapidly and continuously arouses the brain into an impulsive, dopamine-fueled, ‘automatic’ flow state that leads to excessive and unhealthy smartphone use. The ubiquity of advertising-based products that exploit users’ vulnerabilities to maximize engagement is leading to detrimental impacts on well-being and widespread addiction symptoms. In the UK, about 40% of adults think they spend too much time online, 60% consider themselves ‘hooked’ and 33% find disconnecting difficult.
The current digital solutions quantify and block app usage. However, guilt and self-coercion are unhealthy motivators, digital interventions rapidly desensitize users, and experiences of varying quality may occur on one app.
Here we introduce Holdable devices, biofeedback-based tangible interfaces that sense when smartphones are used inattentively or compulsively from the motion of the hand behind the phone and gently alert users to regain mindfulness through haptic feedback and abstract visualization. We describe our design process and a pilot study with three prototypes that evaluated user preferences and the intervention’s impact on psychological factors related to problematic smartphone use. Results reveal the potential for beneficial impacts on cognitive and behavioral metrics and inform scopes for future designs."

The full paper is available through SpringerLink, provided that you have proper access rights.