Research Question
When people are nudged at the moment they decide to pause, what kind of guidance most effectively makes pauses restorative micro breaks, and how does it change how they feel and perform when they return to work?
Participant Recruitment
For this intervention study, we will target undergraduate and graduate students at Stanford, which cover three of our identified personas (The High-Performing Undergraduate, The Grad Student, and The Multitasker). This target user group (aged 18-28) spend most of their time doing focused work (in the form of classes and studying) and regularly use their phones during study/work breaks. We aim to use a similar screener as the one used for the baseline study.
Causal Loops
We pulled causal loops directly from baseline diary entries and interview quotes, then we marked the exact edges where the loop could shift with a small prompt.
Example loop 1: Strain to scrolling to weaker return
- Loop we saw: focused work gets harder → discomfort rises → pause happens → phone scrolling becomes the default → time passes → return feels scattered → work feels harder again.
- Edge we targeted: the step where pause happens turns into scrolling.
- What we added: the Pause Menu prompt (A Calm, B Energy, C Reset Attention, D Body) so the pause choice becomes a quick need label, followed by a 30–90 second micro-break script and a return-to-work check-in.
Example loop 2: Feeling stuck to avoidance to more pressure
- Loop we saw: task feels unclear → stuck feeling builds → pause happens → avoidance break (scrolling or cleanup tasks) → time pressure rises → task feels more unclear.
- Edge we targeted: the step where stuck becomes avoidance.
- What we added: Reset Attention breaks that end with a concrete re-entry step, like write the next tiny step, plus a same task or different task return prompt.
Example loop 3: Physical tension to short breaks that do not reset
- Loop we saw: long sitting and screen focus → neck and shoulder tension → pause happens → small break with no body reset → tension stays → focus drops faster → more pauses.
- Edge we targeted: the step where tension stays after the pause.
What we added: Body breaks that are short and specific, plus a quick energy and focus rating to capture whether the reset helped the next work block.
- 3 key proposal ideas
- Final selected proposal (using prelim feedback from Angela)
- Study Materials:
