Purpose Mode: Reducing Distraction Through Toggling Attention Capture Damaging Patterns on Social Media Websites

Social media websites thrive on user engagement by employing Attention Capture Damaging Patterns (ACDPs), e.g., infinite scroll, that prey on cognitive vulnerabilities to distract users. Prior work has taxonomized these ACDPs, but we have yet to measure how the presence of ACDPs impacts perceived distraction nor how mechanisms that suppress ACDPs reduce distraction. We conducted a two-week, mixed-methods field study with 29 participants to model how people get distracted when browsing social media websites, and how ACDPs might play a role. In the first week of the study, we sample participants’ in-situ perceptions of distraction, subjective perceptions of the browsing session (e.g., satisfaction), and the presence/absence of ACDPs. Participants reported feeling distracted 28% of the time, and that subjective perceptions and some ACDPs (e.g., notifications) highly correlated with when they felt distracted. In the second week of the study, participants were given access to Purpose Mode — a browser extension that allows users to “toggle off” ACDPs. Participants reported feeling distracted only 7% of the time and spent 21 fewer daily minutes browsing these websites. We discovered that Purpose Mode empowered users to feel more in control over their social media browsing and made participants feel less irritated and frustrated.