FocuShift: Actuated Intervention to Prevent Smartphone Overuse via Phone-Attached Shape-Changing Device

With instant gratification constantly available at the tap of a screen, smartphone overuse has quickly become a widespread problem. Many digital applications have been built to combat this issue, either by blocking content entirely or enforcing a mindful pause before entering a distracting app. In this paper, we propose FocuShift, a shape-changing device that attaches to the phone case, as a novel tangible intervention to prevent smartphone overuse. Our device is designed to trigger a shape-change intervention periodically while a user is engaging with a distracting app, altering the ergonomics of the phone and promoting awareness while distracted. We deployed our device in-the-wild for a 48 hour study, comparing screen time between baseline phone usage and phone usage with our shape-changing intervention active. We then conducted interviews with participants to understand the qualitative merits of our proof-of-concept.