代码代写｜6000 CEM- Individual Project Preparation

How to deal with distractions at work or study

TOPIC: With the popularity of smart phones, our life becomes very convenient. People are enjoying the convenience brought by mobile phones, it is very normal to use mobile phones in work or study. But in fact, many people are distracted by mobile phones when they are working and studying. On the one hand, the efficiency of work and study is low. On the other hand, apps for entertainment often make people forget the time. These are actually very common problems in today’s society and many people suffer from them. It is of great significance to study and solve this problem in today’s society. In this context, I want to develop an Android based app, which can effectively help people reduce the interference of mobile phones on work and study.

1.Similar commodity investigation and shortcomings of exploration and thinking

there must be similar apps in the market so I will briefly introduce them and analyze their shortcomings. For example, one of the more popular apps is called “forest” (see Figure 1).

Its working principle is: users first set a focus time, and forest will plant a tree during the focus time. During this time, your social media will be blocked. If you stay focused within the set time, the tree will grow and enter your own forest. If you keep using it and keep focusing, your forest will continue to grow. (Seekrtech, 2014) This app also has some disadvantages:

Another app called “Indistractable”(see Fegure 2),

This app can change your phone’s application layout, including the home screen, which is also its shortcoming. Changing the layout of apps and home screens can be difficult for people to accept and resist, and they will be overwhelmed and want to close the app directly. Although this app will discourage people from using social media by reducing the number of apps available on the main page and by having a very simple look, it does not block social media notifications. If someone is working, some pop-up notifications may distract them and reduce work efficiency.

We think social media has formed a strong habit in people’s minds. It is unrealistic to break this habit right away. We should gradually let them form a new good habit to replace the current one step by step. (Clear, 2018) Suggests that to break a habit we need to:

Make it not obvious (hide it).

Make it unattractive.

Make it tough.

Make it unsatisfying.

The app I want to develop is based on The Pomodoro Technique(Cirillo, 2018) .Its workflow is to set the time and move for the work you need to complete now. Usually, 4 pomodoros are a cycle, and each pomodoro is 30 minutes, including 25 minutes of focused work time and 5 minutes. A rest period of 10 minutes, repeated four times, that is, after a cycle, usually a relatively long rest period of 15 minutes can be obtained. Its principle is to decompose a large goal into countless small goals. In each pomodoro, you only need to focus on one small goal instead of being overwhelmed by many things. It can also balance focus and rest time, every pomodoro is a focus time, and every 5 minutes is a rest time. Every break is a respite to bring your focus back to what you should be doing. Rewards are always in place, and we can reward users who stay away from their phones and distractions while working and studying, and punish those who use their phones too much. The app I hope to develop is that through the mobile app, it is convenient for users to gradually develop good habits through gentle means to eliminate the interference of mobile phones on work and study, rather than forced withdrawal, which may cause users to return to old habits.

The basic functions of the app I hope to develop include:

1.The user sets a task to be completed within a centralized working time (the default time for a pomodoro is 25 minutes)

2.The user selects the number of pomodoros needed and the tasks to be completed during this time

3.The app blocks notifications in focus mode and restores notifications during breaks. So, we need to implement notification access to the phone.

4.If you successfully complete 25 minutes of work without distraction, the application will make a reward (similar to forest)

5.If they get distracted and open social media or other distracting apps, they will be penalized and rewarded less

Prove that the app is positive for users. From the perspective of users, this app should effectively help them suppress the impulse to use mobile phones during work and study and help them eliminate irrelevant news or unimportant social information. At the same time, considering that the target users are students and employees, the following points should be paid attention to in the design:

In Coventry, we are looking for a target audience, that is, people whose work and study efficiency is affected by the distractions of mobile phones. The completed app installation package will be sent to them in the form of Android package for testing. It is expected that the survey cycle will be three times. After one week, half a month and one month, feedback from users will be collected and improvements will be made.

Upload the main code and installation package to the open GitHub repository and copy the link to the report

Organize the feedback collected three times and present it in a table (usually but not limited to Excel)

This app can help those people who have lost their work and study efficiency due to mobile phones to improve their condition, and can also help people who are determined to reduce the time they use mobile phones to improve their physical an mental health.

There are actually a lot of apps on the market that help you get rid of distractions from your phone, like “forest” and “indistractable”, which I mentioned earlier, and even a phone brand called OnePlus that has a similar zen mode built into its factory system (Neznaradko, & Demkiv, 2021). We can see that these app designers have made a lot of efforts and bold attempts. I think this project provides a good direction for them to use scientific and effective methods to work in the direction they want, which is definitely what they want to see.

With the popularity of mobile phones, I found that many employees and students are affected by the interference of mobile phones to varying degrees, but they cannot leave the support of mobile phones in their daily work and study. This project provides a new way for them to gradually change their dependence on mobile phones and reduce the interference of mobile phones.

Researchers at the University of Illinois in the US found that people who are interrupted by a social media notification or a ringing phone while they are working or studying can take up to 15 minutes to regain their concentration. If the phone rings, people can’t help but drop work to answer it, which can take a toll on their productivity and mood (Yi Z. 2009). People are frequently disturbed at work, which has an impact on their productivity. They can distract us from our focus, whether they are human or digital things. Personal and monetary repercussions include a higher likelihood of mistakes, stress, and a considerable drop in productivity. (Tino, J. R. 2014)

We generally divide customers into two types: employees and students

For employees, there are usually two situations when they use mobile phones at work:

First, they want their phones to distract them. For example, when an employee is completing a relatively complex job, the difficulty of the job gives him great pressure, which leads him to need distraction to relieve the pressure. He will look for common entertainment items, and mobile phone is the best choice for him. For this situation, I used The Pomodoro Technique, which can effectively help them transform a complex and difficult big project into many small projects, and give them a chance to breathe and release pressure. I think this is a good way to improve work efficiency.

In the second case, they are disturbed by mobile phones. For example, when they are fully engaged in their work, their efficiency is very high, but the sudden social media news or phone call will interrupt their thoughts, they will be passively distracted to reply the message or answer the phone, when the interruption takes time to get back to work, which undoubtedly interferes with their work efficiency.

In view of this situation, I choose to obtain the message permission of the mobile phone, do not allow the system pop-up window and ring, save the message in the background, at the end of each Pomodoro 5 minutes of rest, they can go to check the received messages and deal with it, this not only put an end to the mobile phone when people are working hard to interfere with them, but also will not delay the transmission of important information.

For students, the survey (People’s Daily Online, 2019) found that the average primary and secondary schools are not allowed to carry mobile phones, so here we take University students as an example:

We know that University students are allowed to use mobile phones in class, but many University students are immersed in the world of mobile phones and do not focus on class. In a word, this is the same problem that employees who want to disperse pressure need to solve. Learning brings pressure to them, and The Pomodoro Technique is undoubtedly a good solution.