Browser Design Impacts Multitasking

Abstract

With smartphones, tablets and laptops, it has become easier than ever to multitask constantly. How does the design of devices and applications encourage or discourage multitasking behavior? Given the ease and seamlessness of switching between goal-oriented tasks and distractions in a browser, and the propensity to lose track of time, our design team focused on increasing awareness of switching between browser tabs, and on increasing awareness of how time is spent within tabs. We designed a browser plug-in that automatically categorized URLs as work or non-work, altered tab color, size and placement, and added a status bar that displayed the total amount of time spent on a tab and overall in work/non-work mode. We conducted a two-week field study to evaluate the effects on browsing behavior. We found that modifying the browser design influenced multitasking: participants spent less time on non-work tabs, switched between tabs less frequently and spent more time on work-related websites.

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