Human interruptibility: a relational perspective

Abstract

Interruption management research has focused on identifying the costs of cognitive and social intrusion, largely without considering either who the interruption is from or what the interruption is about. The framework outlined in this paper addresses this issue, proposing a systematic investigation of how such rich contextual knowledge (who/what) can alter people's decision to be interrupted. The first study on interruption management practices in everyday cell phone use demonstrates that the knowledge of "who" is calling is used in deliberate call handling decisions 77.8% of the time (N=880) and that effective call handling decisions rules cannot be derived solely from an interruptee's local social and cognitive context. Two further studies are outlined that will inform the design of interruption management tools for communication media.