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Attention & Habits

Explore habits, expectations and places to pause.

Connected topics

Related

Sunk Costs

A past investment and the prospect of the next interesting moment can both enter a decision to continue; they are different explanations.

Application

Choice & Interfaces

A visible pause can make a choice easier to notice. This does not establish a universal reduction in use.

Sources & further reading

  1. Arkes & Blumer (1985) — The Psychology of Sunk Cost

    University-hosted copy of the published paper; Experiment 2, printed pages 126–128, checked October 27, 2026. Theater-ticket use is not time spent watching a disappointing movie. No reanalysis of the data was performed.

  2. Navarro & Fantino (2009) — The Sunk-Time Effect, An Exploration

    Publisher abstract checked October 27, 2026: questionnaire and behavioral studies, including a personal-responsibility interaction. Individual task procedures and statistics were not verified from the full text.

  3. Petrov et al. (2023) — Sunk Cost Effects for Time Versus Money

    Registered replication and extensions using hypothetical choices. The publisher-hosted abstract and procedure were checked October 27, 2026; outcomes differ across tasks. No statistical reanalysis was performed.

  4. Kazinka, MacDonald & Redish (2021) — Sensitivity to Sunk Costs Depends on Attention to the Delay

    Waiting for short videos, with attention to waiting manipulated. Waiting is not the same activity as watching a disappointing feature film.

  5. Oulasvirta et al. (2012) — Habits Make Smartphone Use More Pervasive

    University bibliographic record and abstract for research on brief repetitive checking. Older devices and services limit direct extrapolation to current feeds.

  6. Baughan et al. (2022) — How Design Influences Dissociation on Social Media

    Author-hosted CHI paper. Small Twitter-based field study and interviews; self-reported inattention is not a clinical diagnosis.

  7. Tam & Inzlicht (2024) — Fast-Forward to Boredom

    Experimental video and reading tasks; results varied across samples and conditions. Not a test of permanent attention damage.

  8. Grüning, Riedel & Lorenz-Spreen (2023) — Directing Smartphone Use Through One Sec

    Publisher full text checked October 27, 2026. Distinguishes a six-week app-use field study from a controlled online video experiment. One coauthor created one sec; starting an activity is different from stopping an ongoing scroll.

  9. Ruiz, Molina León & Heuer (2024) — Design Frictions on Social Media

    Author-posted conference paper. Required reactions, recognition, frustration and task interaction time must be distinguished; this is not a measurement of long-term everyday browsing time.