  Beyond being the world's largest social network, Facebook is for many also
one of its greatest sources of digital distraction. For students, problematic
use has been associated with negative effects on academic achievement and
general wellbeing. To understand what strategies could help users regain
control, we investigated how simple interventions to the Facebook UI affect
behaviour and perceived control. We assigned 58 university students to one of
three interventions: goal reminders, removed newsfeed, or white background
(control). We logged use for 6 weeks, applied interventions in the middle
weeks, and administered fortnightly surveys. Both goal reminders and removed
newsfeed helped participants stay on task and avoid distraction. However, goal
reminders were often annoying, and removing the newsfeed made some fear missing
out on information. Our findings point to future interventions such as controls
for adjusting types and amount of available information, and flexible blocking
which matches individual definitions of 'distraction'.
