Blocking Interventions for Digital Distractions: An Exploratory Study

As online activities dominate our lives, digital distractions (e.g., advertisements) are suggested to divert individuals’ attention away from tasks and impede task performance. Increased prevalence of these distractions has motivated research on interventions to alleviate their adverse effects. However, these studies typically lack models and empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the interventions. In this study, we develop a process model for digital distractions and explore the role of proposed blocking interventions. Through a pilot lab experiment, we examine the impact of both digital distractions and self- versus other-imposed blocking interventions on task accuracy and completion time. Preliminary results indicate that digital distractions impair task performance and increase completion time. Furthermore, we found self-deployed interventions to be more effective than other-deployed blocking interventions in mitigating these negative effects. We end with outlining our future research plans. This study advances our understanding of approaches for managing digital distractions and promoting productivity.