tools to
thrive in the
digital world

simplify your digital life,

break free from addictive designs,

redesign your devices to serve your needs.

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Trusted by

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the Reduce Digital Distraction Workshop

There are thousands of notification settings and digital focus tools available.
The 100-minute ReDD Workshop makes it effortless to find and implement the right ones for you.

Workshop step 1 Reflection note
Workshop step 2 Strategy cards
Workshop step 3 Do-it guy

1,400+

university & high school students & staff served since 2019

58%

average increase in ability to focus after a single session*

For students & academics, knowledge workers, and parents.

* As measured by the Brief Digital Self-Control Scale, comparing score 1 month after vs before the workshop. Based on data from 280 participants in UK-wide pilots at the universities of Warwick, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Sheffield Hallam, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

What people say

I cannot recommend this project highly enough.

— Jane Harris, Director of Student Welfare and Support Services, University of Oxford, Chair of HUCS (Heads of University Counselling Services)

“We’ve had fabulous feedback! We’d like to offer the ReDD workshop to all staff and students at a regular basis.”

— Dr. Ford Hickson, Associate Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

“The ReDD workshop is one of the most useful webinars I have ever attended in my career! I now find that I can sit and focus on things that tested me before, like report-writing, and I can get off my phone of an evening and do something more valuable to me.”

— Harriet, University of Oxford staff, workshop participant

“Thank you for a hugely informative, practical and helpful session on digital distractions today (…) I thought the session was awesome and I’ve bookmarked the tools page to try more in future (once I get used to the first round of tips). I would highly recommend the session to anyone looking to make their screen time work better for them. Thanks so much again!”

— Lucy, University of Oxford staff

“It wasn’t a ‘you can do it’ coach vibe, it was a human and light approach towards new possibilities based on how we individually are. Thank you very much!”

— Miriam, Oxford University staff, workshop participant

“It’s important to emphasise how game-changing the Reduce Digital Distraction Workshop is: So many students have tried and failed to tackle the digital distraction problem with willpower alone.”

— Dr. Melissa Barkan, Deputy Head of Counselling, University of Oxford

“It was extremely helpful… it made me feel like I wasn’t alone and that I’m not the only one in this situation.”

— Tina, University of Warwick student, workshop participant

“This was a masterclass on running online training. Really impressed, and grateful for the tools.”

— Anna, Oxford University staff, workshop participant

“After the digital distraction workshop, I’ve started using my time better and my devices more thoughtfully (…) . Using my phone has started to feel less and less like a habit, and I can finally sit in silence without the need to check my devices.”

— Maria, Oxford University student

“Brilliant workshop guys, so much better because it is rooted in real scientific research!

— Ken, student workshop participant, Sheffield Hallam University

“This was one of the best webinars I’ve ever attended - thanks so much.”

— Petra, Oxford University staff, workshop participant

“Please run these workshops often! The world needs it!

— Jens, Oxford University student, workshop participant

“I found the workshop really interesting and helpful. You know, that feeling when it’s kind of revelatory (…) I finally felt that I have the tools to control these urges that are coming on and my habits that I consider unhealthy. (…) I felt really motivated to change how I feel about social media and to change how I work.”

— Philippa, Oxford University student

Research

Research behind ReDD

The ReDD Workshop is based on a decade of academic research into the psychology of digital distraction and how digital focus tools can help. We have analysed 550+ tools, 54,000+ user reviews, and interviewed several hundreds of research participants.

Key papers

May 2024 | ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

“I finally felt I had the tools to control these urges”: Empowering Students to Achieve Their Device Use Goals With the Reduce Digital Distraction Workshop.

Ulrik Lyngs, Kai Lukoff, Petr Slovak, Michael Inzlicht, Maureen Freed, Hannah Andrews, Claudine Tinsman, Laura Csuka, Lize Alberts, Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello, Guido Makransky, Kasper Hornbæk, Max Van Kleek, Nigel Shadbolt

May 2019 | ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Self-Control in Cyberspace: Applying Dual Systems Theory to a Review of Digital Self-Control Tools

Ulrik Lyngs, Kai Lukoff, Petr Slovak, Reuben Binns, Adam Slack, Michael Inzlicht, Max Van Kleek, Nigel Shadbolt

Oct 2022 | International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

Apr 2020 | ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

“I Just Want to Hack Myself to Not Get Distracted”: Evaluating Design Interventions for Self-Control on Facebook

Ulrik Lyngs, Kai Lukoff, Petr Slovak, William Seymour, Helena Webb, Marina Jirotka, Jun Zhao, Max Van Kleek, Nigel Shadbolt

News

Oct 2024 | Conference

We presented our work on the ReDD workshop in Danish high schools at the NordiCHI conference

Oct 2024 | Research talk

Dr Ulrik Lyngs gave a talk about our work to Amy Orben’s Digital Mental Health group at the University of Cambridge

Jun 2024 | Award

Dr Ulrik Lyngs won Oxford University’s MPLS Early Career Social Impact Award for our work on the ReDD workshop

May 2023 | Research grant

UKRI’s Impact Acceleration Account research grant awarded to Sir Nigel Shadbolt & Dr Ulrik Lyngs to enable UK-wide impact of the ReDD workshop

Press & Media

Oct 2024 | Podcast (Danish)

Dr Ulrik Lyngs was on the Brainstorm podcast by videnskab.dk, Hvorfor har jeg så svært ved at lægge min mobil væk? (Why do I have such a hard time putting away my phone?).

Mar 2024 | Podcast

Dr Ulrik Lyngs was on episode #8 of the Mokhm Singh Show.

Nov 2023 | Interview

Dr Ulrik Lyngs interviewed by the Canadian magazine Healthy Debate for the article ‘“Everything is at stake here”: Startups aim to break addictions to social media’.

May 2023 | Interview

Dr Ulrik Lyngs interviewed by Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten for the article ‘Fem digitale tricks, der hjælper dig med at få styr på dit digitale liv’ (Five digital tricks that help you get your digital life sorted).

Thanks to

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Who we are

Founders

Founders Photo
Maureen Freed

Psychotherapist and mental health consultant

Former Deputy head of Counselling at Oxford University

Dr Ulrik Lyngs

Computer scientist & cognitive psychologist

External postdoc at the University of Copenhagen

Collaborators & advisors

 Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, FRS FREng FBCS
Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, FRS FREng FBCS

Head of the Human Centred Computing group, University of Oxford

 Dr Kai Lukoff
Dr Kai Lukoff

Head of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, Santa Clara University

 Dr Petr Slovak
Dr Petr Slovak

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the Department of Informatics, King’s College London

 Professor Kasper Hornbæk
Professor Kasper Hornbæk

Human-Centred Computing Section, University of Copenhagen

 Dr Konrad Kollnig
Dr Konrad Kollnig

Leader of the RegTech4AI project at Maastricht University’s Law & Tech Lab

 Hayoun Noh
Hayoun Noh

PhD candidate, University of Oxford & research affiliate at MIT Media Lab

 Stuart Coleman
Stuart Coleman

Director of Learning and Consultancy at the Open Data Institute

 Thomas Şerban von Davier
Thomas Şerban von Davier

Human-Centered AI Research Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute