Less is Not Always More: The Impact of Block Intensity and Immediacy of Social Media Blockers on Work Time

Abstract

Excessive social media usage takes up work time. To protect one's work time, users have turned to the use of social media blockers. However, these social media blockers have not produced the intended benefits due to a lack of clear understanding of the effectiveness of their features. Responding to this gap in the literature, we draw upon the goal-setting literature to study the effectiveness of two blocking features, namely block intensity and block immediacy. We conducted a four-week-long randomized experiment, during which we collected fine-grained computer usage data to assess the amount of time users spent on work-related activities. A few nuanced results were uncovered. First, we found that the partial blocking of social media increases work time, but the complete block of social media decreases the amount of work time instead. This effect varies with the users' prior social media consumption patterns. Second, we found that a gradual block increases the amount of work time, and its beneficial effects are especially apparent for users who are heavy social media users. Finally, we found a nuanced three-way interaction effect between block intensity, block immediacy, and social media consumption levels. Implications of our findings to theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords: social media blocker, goal setting, productivity, work time