ACM HotMobile 2013 poster: mitigating distractions from smartphones

Abstract

A smartphone is well positioned to understand its user’s behavior, learn the current context, and make suitable recommendations. In addition, because of cloud storage, smartphones now have access to the same user data that a desktop computer would. We propose to use this knowledge about the user to help him/her stay connected and focused. Software like MacFreedom in the desktop realm and Unplug & Reconnect in the mobile realm claim to help you stay focused, but simply disable connectivity [4, 5]. By disabling your network connectivity for a period of time, they eliminate distractions but also eliminate the func-