Using Screenshot Data to Examine the Phone Use People Regret
Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025). Acceptance rate: 25%.
Extended Use
Many people find themselves using their phone in ways they regret. The User Empowerment Lab investigates the design features that leave users frustrated and designs interfaces that put them back in the driver’s seat.
Publications
Problematic Media Use as a Content-Neutral, Enforceable Harm
The Journal of Online Trust and Safety (JOTS), 3(1), 2025.
Investigating Attention and Normative Dissociation in Children's Online Social Games
Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2024). Acceptance rate: 29%.
Let Kids Wonder, Question and Make Mistakes: How the Designers of Children’s Technology Think about Child Well-being
Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2023). Acceptance rate: 29%.
SwitchTube: A Proof-of-Concept System Introducing 'Adaptable Commitment Interfaces' as a Tool for Digital Wellbeing.
Proceedings of the 2023 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2023). Acceptance rate: 27.6%.
Best paper honorable mention (top 5%)
Reclaiming Attention: Christianity and HCI
Interactions, 29(4):40-44, 2022.
'I Don’t Even Remember What I Read': How Design Influences Dissociation on Social Media
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2022). Acceptance rate: 24.7%.
Monitoring Screen Time or Redesigning It? Two Approaches to Supporting Intentional Social Media Use
Proceedings of the 2022 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2022). Acceptance rate: 24.7%.
How the Design of YouTube Influences User Sense of Agency
Proceedings of the 2021 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2021). Acceptance rate: 26%.
When Screen Time Isn’t Screen Time: Tensions and Needs Among Tweens and Their Parents During Nature-Based Exploration
Proceedings of the 2021 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2021). Acceptance rate: 26%.
From Moral Panic to Systemic Change: Making Child-Centered Design the Default
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, Special Issue in Review Articles in Child-Computer Interaction Research (IJCCI), 31(100351), 2021.
From Ancient Contemplative Practice to the App Store: Designing a Digital Container for Mindfulness
Proceedings of the ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS 2020). Acceptance rate: 24%.
'Everything's the Phone': Understanding the Phone’s Supercharged Role in Parent-Teen Relationships
Proceedings of the 2019 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2019). Acceptance rate: 23%.
Modeling the Engagement-Disengagement Cycle of Compulsive Phone Use
Proceedings of the 2019 ACM conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI 2019). Acceptance rate: 23%.
Let's Play! Digital and Analog Play Patterns between Preschoolers and Parents
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018). Acceptance rate: 25.7%.
What Makes Smartphone Use Meaningful or Meaningless?
Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT), 2(1):1-26, 2018.
Coco’s Videos: An Empirical Investigation of Video-Player Design Features and Children's Media Use
Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018). Acceptance rate: 25.7%.
Best paper honorable mention (top 5%)
Plan & Play: Supporting Intentional Media Use in Early Childhood
Proceedings of the 18th Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC 2017). Acceptance rate: 21%.
Best paper honorable mention (top three papers)
Why Would You Do That? Predicting the Uses and Gratifications Behind Smartphone-Usage Behaviors
Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2016). Acceptance rate: 26%.
MyTime: Interventions to Support Intentional Smartphone Use
Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2016). Acceptance rate: 23%.
Texting While Parenting: How Adults Use Mobile Phones When Caring for Children at the Playground
Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015). Acceptance rate: 25%.