At the recent 2020 MPLS Impact Awards, a Commendation Certificate was awarded to HCC DPhil student Ulrik Lyngs for his work on the ‘Reducing Digital Distraction’ (ReDD) workshop. The MPLS Impact awards aim to
recognise and reward researchers at all career stages, for research that has had, or will have significant social or economic impact.
The ReDD workshop is developed by Ulrik Lyngs in collaboration with Maureen Freed, Deputy Head of Counselling at the University of Oxford. The counselling service works one-to-one with nearly 3,000 students each year. An increasing proportion of these students report strongly conflicting feelings about their digital devices, because having these devices ever-present and switched on often compromises their ability to tune out distractions and be wholly and productively immersed in academic work.
The ReDD workshop aim to help students struggling in this domain. In the workshop, students reflect on their use, struggles, and goals for digital technology use, and are provided concrete tools and strategies. In the process, the workshops also generate valuable data for advancing the frontiers of digital wellbeing research.