CAREER DEVELOPMENT SKILLS

KDOE441(GD2-HK2-2223).3

PROJECT
REPORT
DISCONECT TO CONNECT
GROUP 8
 GROUP 8
OUR TEAM MEMBERS

Name Student ID

Chu Huy Hoàng 2212150077

Nguyễn Xuân Thành 2212150156

Nguyễn Xuân Thành 2212150155

Trần Trung Hiếu 2214150614

Nguyễn Trương Hoài Nam 2213150125

Nghiêm Quang Minh

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. ABSTRACT

II. ABOUT OUR PROJECT

III. EMPATHIZE

IV. DEFINE

V. IDEATE

VI. PROTOTYPE

VII. TEST

VIII. WHAT WE OBTAINED FROM THE PROJECT

ABSTRACT
The project aimed to establish
healthy time management habits
and reduce phone usage over an 11-
day period from June 12th to June
22nd. Through various awareness-
building activities and the
implementation of reasonable rules
and habits, the project successfully
created an environment that
supported users in developing
healthier habits and decreasing their
reliance on mobile phones.

To ensure monitoring and support,

Disconect mobile applications and tracking
To software were utilized,
summarized, and then posted on a
Connect survey using google docs. These
tools helped users become aware
Awareness was raised through
of their phone usage and provided
activities such as discussions, and
statistical information to assess
visual media including posts and
and adjust their usage behavior.
pictures, to enhance the
community's understanding and
The results of the project were
engagement with the negative
highly promising, with a significant
effects of excessive phone usage. An
reduction in participants' phone
essential aspect of the project was
usage. Many individuals recognized
the establishment of a different
the importance of effective time
environment by setting appropriate
management and the impact of
rules and habits for phone usage. A
excessive phone usage. The
group was organized to discuss and
project's success highlights the
propose phone usage regulations,
potential for individuals to develop
including setting time limits,
healthier habits and minimize their
disabling unnecessary notifications,
dependence on mobile phones,
and allocating time without phone
contributing to overall well-being
usage to focus on other activities.
and improved productivity.
ABOUT OUR PROJECT
The decision to undertake this project was driven by the growing prevalence of
smartphone addiction and its impact on various aspects of life. With the ever-
increasing availability of digital distractions and the constant need to stay
connected, it has become crucial to address this issue and promote
responsible phone usage. By focusing on time management and reducing
phone dependency, this project seeks to empower individuals to take control
of their digital habits and optimize their use of technology for a more balanced
and fulfilling life.

OUR AIMS
The primary aim of the project is
individuals to strike a balance
twofold. Firstly, it aims to raise
between their digital engagement
awareness among individuals about
and their personal, social, and
the adverse effects of excessive
professional lives.
phone usage. By providing
By undertaking this project, it is
information and utilizing social
hoped that participants will gain a
media, the project aims to highlight
heightened awareness of their
the potential consequences of
phone usage patterns and the
uncontrolled phone usage, such as
impact it has on their overall well-
decreased productivity, diminished
being. It is also expected that they
social interactions, and increased
will acquire the necessary skills
stress levels.
and techniques to make mindful
Secondly, the project aims to equip
choices regarding their phone
individuals with practical strategies
usage and prioritize their time for
and tools to develop healthier habits
activities that contribute to
and reduce their reliance on mobile
personal growth, relationships,
phones. Through the establishment
and overall life satisfaction.
of reasonable rules, habits, and the
=> We used the design thinking
utilization of managing their time
process throughout this project to
effectively and allocate it to
solve problems by prioritizing our
meaningful activities beyond screen
target audience’s needs.
time. The ultimate goal is to enable

EMPATHIZE
First, we tried to empathize with our
target audience, which are Gen Z
students who have problems with
their phone usage, by trying to
understand their attitudes toward
phone addiction. To achieve our goal,
we used several methods to collect
primary and secondary data: Internet
searching, group discussion, and
survey.
Internet searching
To collect secondary data, we
conducted some research on the
Internet. We tried to find out if phone
“addiction” is really a thing, what is its
cause, who is at the greatest risk, what
its symptoms are, and what are its side
effects. We found some research, and
found out the answer to these
questions:
Although there is some debate
in the medical community
about phone overuse and
whether it is really a kind of
addiction, there are a lot of
similarities between phone
overuse and other behavioral
addictions like gambling.
People are easily addicted to
phones because some phone
apps are designed to keep users
coming back and back again for
the release of “dopamine”, a
chemical released by the brain
when it feels rewarded.
According to researchers,
teenagers tend to overuse their
phones more than other age
groups, so our target audience,
which is Gen Z students, seems
reasonable.
There are many symptoms of
phone addiction, such as
spending time with the phone
without awareness of the time,
reaching out for the phone the
moment they feel alone or
bored, and many more.
Phone over usage can cause
many side effects such as
distraction from work, anxiety,
sleep deficits, and insomnia.
Source: Cell Phone Addiction: Is It
Really a Thing, and What Can You Do?
(healthline.com)
 Group discussion
After collecting these secondary data, we tried to empathize by conducting a
group discussion. All members of our group share our experiences and opinions
about our phone usage, and we realized that we are also the target audience of
this project, as we shared the same experience with phone “addicts”. We
discussed how much time we spend on our phones, why we are attracted to
using phones, and what can we do to reduce our phone usage
Survey
Finally, we surveyed to find out if other Gen Z students also shared the same
experience with us. Here are the results of our survey
Through the survey, we saw that other Gen Z students are similar to us in terms
of phone usage. In conclusion, we concluded some insights from the survey:
The majority of respondents use their phones 5-10 hours a day.
They spend a lot of time on their phone for entertainment and social
media apps.
They use their phones when they do not have anything to do, or when
they receive notifications, and they are not aware of the time when they
use their phones.

DEFINE
Applying the 5 Whys method, we have an image pointing out the causes of
using mobile phones uncontrollably:

According to our survey above and the 5 Whys method analysis, we realize the
four main root reasons we need to care about the most:
Lack of other activities
Not enough motivation to limit the time
Nobody reminds them when using the mobile phones
No environment with people having the same goals
These four different root causes are also the problems we have to solve to help
all participants to reduce phone spending for entertainment time.
IDEATE
After the first two
steps of
empathizing and
defining the
problem, we
continue along the
process of Design
Thinking to get to
step three.
This involves ideation or coming up with ideas that can help fulfill the
requirements of the information gained in the first two steps. You can define a
problem, keeping in mind all considerations, and you can also empathize with
your subjects and their feelings, but those are futile if you cannot come up with
the appropriate ideas to solve those issues. This makes the ideate phase very
critical to the entire design thinking process. At this stage, we have a table
presenting our ideas:

Remove apps
Lack of other activities Building sharing status to help them find
Healthier hobbies

Building sharing status to motivate and

remind them that they are in charge of a
Not enough motivation to limit the challenge
time Educate how phone harm people
Reward them
Penalties

Building sharing status to motivate and

Nobody reminds them when using Remind them that they are in charge of
the mobile a challenge
phones Set a fixed time frame to use
Building a 21-day habit

No environment with people having

Create a group for them to create a
the
feeling of having companions
same goals
 PROTOTYPE
After researching, our group decided to create a community so that project
participants have a good environment for changing their habits. We started an
online group on Facebook called “D2C Disconnect to Connect” and created
many activities to accompany our participants:

Posting every two days to motivate people and introduce effective

techniques for phone usage reduction such as reading books, listening to
podcasts, or telling stories about our achievement in reducing phone usage
time.
Sending checking progress form every two days. Through this form, we get
participants’ phone screen time, ask them about obstacles, remind them of
their commitment, and feedback for further improvements.
Taking care of project participants by talking with them about their
improvement or texting them directly
Collecting data and updating on a Google Sheet every two days so that we
can keep track of our participants closely and motivate them at the right
time
Here are some of our activities:

Facebook Group
Regular status to remind and suggest

A part of checking progress sheet

A part of checking progress form

 TEST
As we frequently send progress forms and talk with participants in person,
we can keep track of their improvement and get feedback. According to
feedback, there are some aspects that we have done well:
Most people satisfy with our project and said that there is nothing they can
recommend for improvement
Many people have used their time for better activities such as preparing for
exams, reading books, doing exercises, and doing meditation.
In contrast, there are some obstacles we have met:
Creating more activities, so that they can spend time on meaningful things,
and less on smartphones
Half of the participants said that they relied so much on smartphones, and,
now, they feel difficult to reduce
Some participants are lazy at filling out the tracking progress form (about
48% of all participants)
Although the majority of participants reduced their use of the 3 apps, the
overall time, in some cases, increase, which showed that our orientation was
not thorough enough.
WHAT WE OBTAIN FROM THE PROJECT
According to the table given below, during the week before June 12, the total
average time of using 3 apps per head (264 minutes) occupied over 63% of total
average time of using phones per head in general (417.125 minutes). This proves
that our focus on those apps were precise and the project was on track.

To be more visually-appealing, here is the bar chart indicating the participants’ average
time of using 3 apps on a daily basis, from June 12 to June 22.
Following the data shown, it can be seen that throughout the period, all the
numbers recorded daily were less than the average number of the week before
June 12. Additionally, those numbers experienced a steady downward trend;
however, there was a slight increase from June 16 to June 18 because these days
were at the weekend, when the demand for recreational purpose was higher
than usual.

After 11 days, nearly 80% of participants managed to reduce their use of 3 apps
compared to the week before survey, whereas the rest witnessed negligible
increases. On average, every participant cut off over 7 minutes a day. Standing
out of them was Do Viet Bach, who successfully cut off more than 20 minutes a
day, or 7.04% of his average use in the week before survey. Here is the
comparison between Bach and the average figures, in percentage:

In this graph, the figures for the percentage of time reduced are positive, so
they would be negative when a person increases his or her use of phones.
Bach’s figures were higher than overall for the majority of the period.
Apart from Bach, an outstanding example was Nguyen Ngo Viet Anh, a guy
who significantly cut off his phone-related activities by deleting Facebook
from his phone.
These were the typical figures to show the participants’ willingness and
support to our project and to emphasize the feasibility of our project.
After evaluating the things we did well and did not do well, we felt that our
actions were still inadequate to provoke the participants’ interests as well as
motivations. If our group have more time and conditions to dig the
problems more deeply, we will re-consider our design-thinking steps, the
focus of which is the “prototype” - the section we struggled the most.

THE END