Trigger-Action Programming in Digital Self-Control Tools to Improve their Long-term Effectiveness

Smartphones have become fundamental in our everyday lives. Thanks to the enormous technological advancements of the last twenty years, we can perform a variety of tasks that would be much more complex, if not unfeasible, without them. Unfortunately, this led people to use those devices much more than needed, losing control over them. To contrast this phenomenon, researchers introduced the notion of digital wellbeing and tried to improve it with Digital Self-Control Tools. Those tools guide the user toward more conscious and healthier behaviors, but if not properly calibrated, they may cause reactance, leading to their abandonment. This document will analyze previous research on this field and End-User Development. We will describe a user study we conducted to extract people's needs in the digital wellbeing field and their opinions about Digital Self-Control Tools and Trigger-Action Programming. We will then map our findings with a theoretical framework, the Habit Alteration Model, which will allow us to understand the study's outcomes better. Inspired by the framework and the study, we will propose an Android application based on rule creation focused on improving its long-term effectiveness. To conclude, we will explain the limitations of our work and how to improve it in the future.