Title
Bored mondays and focused afternoons: the rhythm of attention and online activity in the workplace
Abstract
While distractions using digital media have received attention in HCI, understanding engagement in workplace activities has been little explored. We logged digital activity and continually probed perspectives of 32 information workers for five days in situ to understand how attentional states change with context. We present a framework of how engagement and challenge in work relate to focus, boredom, and rote work. Overall, we find more focused attention than boredom in the workplace. Focus peaks mid-afternoon while boredom is highest in early afternoon. People are happiest doing rote work and most stressed doing focused work. On Mondays people are most bored but also most focused. Online activities are associated with different attentional states, showing different patterns at beginning and end of day, and before and after a mid-day break. Our study shows how rhythms of attentional states are associated with context and time, even in a dynamic workplace environment.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1145/2556288.2557204
CHI
Keywords
Field
DocType
attentional state,workplace activity,digital activity,online activity,rote work,dynamic workplace environment,mondays people,bored monday,different attentional state,focused attention,attentional states change,different pattern,empirical study,multi tasking,experience sampling,focus,attention
Computer science,Experience sampling method,Human–computer interaction,Boredom,Human multitasking,Digital media,Rhythm,Multimedia,Empirical research
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
39
1.75
9
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Gloria Mark12006178.23
Shamsi T. Iqbal2110565.77
Mary Czerwinski35028421.65
Paul Johns436126.16