Platform-Mediated Self-Control: Digital Productivity Technologies and Efficiency Anxiety among Chinese University Students
(2026) SIMZ51 20261Master of Science in Social Scientific Data Analysis
- Abstract
- This thesis examines how Chinese university students experience digital productivity apps in their everyday study lives. It focuses on apps such as Pomodoro Timer and Forest, asking how students understand the relationship between their own self-control and the forms of control built into these platforms. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with four final-year students, together with a discourse-informed analysis of app interfaces. The findings show that productivity apps make study activities more visible by turning them into tasks and focus-time data. Students often use these tools willingly because they help create structure and make progress feel more concrete. At the same time, the same features can also produce... (More)
- This thesis examines how Chinese university students experience digital productivity apps in their everyday study lives. It focuses on apps such as Pomodoro Timer and Forest, asking how students understand the relationship between their own self-control and the forms of control built into these platforms. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with four final-year students, together with a discourse-informed analysis of app interfaces. The findings show that productivity apps make study activities more visible by turning them into tasks and focus-time data. Students often use these tools willingly because they help create structure and make progress feel more concrete. At the same time, the same features can also produce pressure. Unfinished tasks and low focus-time records may remind students that they have not done enough. To describe this feeling, the thesis uses the concept of “efficiency anxiety”: a quiet but persistent sense that one should be using time better or becoming more productive. The analysis draws on Foucault’s ideas of biopolitics and governmentality, as well as Deleuze’s theory of control societies. These theories help explain why productivity apps are not experienced simply as external control. Students actively use them to manage themselves, but their self-management is shaped by the app’s reminders and feedback. The thesis identifies four different usage orientations among participants. It also shows that efficiency anxiety can lead students either to regulate themselves more strictly or to step back temporarily through practices such as “lying flat.” Overall, the study contributes to research on digital self-management by showing how self-control and platform-mediated control become closely connected in productivity app use. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Digital productivity apps such as Forest and Pomodoro Timer have become part of many students’ daily study routines. These apps are designed to help users focus on tasks manage time effectively and improve study efficiency. This thesis asks how Chinese university students experience these technologies in everyday life and how the apps shape their understanding of self discipline and productivity.
The study is based on interviews with university students together with an analysis of productivity app interfaces. The findings show that students often use these apps willingly because they help create structure and make study progress visible. Features such as task lists focus time records and progress tracking can provide motivation and a... (More) - Digital productivity apps such as Forest and Pomodoro Timer have become part of many students’ daily study routines. These apps are designed to help users focus on tasks manage time effectively and improve study efficiency. This thesis asks how Chinese university students experience these technologies in everyday life and how the apps shape their understanding of self discipline and productivity.
The study is based on interviews with university students together with an analysis of productivity app interfaces. The findings show that students often use these apps willingly because they help create structure and make study progress visible. Features such as task lists focus time records and progress tracking can provide motivation and a sense of achievement.
At the same time the research shows that these tools may also create emotional pressure. When students see unfinished tasks or low focus time records they may feel guilty anxious or dissatisfied with themselves. To describe this experience the thesis uses the concept of “efficiency anxiety.” This refers to a persistent feeling that one should always be using time better or becoming more productive.
Drawing on the theories of Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze the thesis argues that productivity apps are not simply neutral tools. They encourage users to continuously monitor evaluate and regulate themselves through reminders feedback systems and visible performance records. Students actively participate in this process because the apps appear helpful and motivating. However the same mechanisms can also make efficiency feel like a constant obligation rather than a personal choice.
The study also finds that students respond to these pressures in different ways. Some depend heavily on productivity apps to maintain daily routines while others use them more selectively or temporarily distance themselves from productivity culture through practices such as “lying flat.”
Overall this thesis contributes to research on digital self management and student wellbeing by showing how productivity technologies influence both everyday behaviour and emotional experiences in contemporary digital life. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9232185
- author
- Hu, Jiayi LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMZ51 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- efficiency anxiety, platform mediated self control, digital productivity tools, self tracking, control society, Chinese university students
- language
- English
- id
- 9232185
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-25 11:15:48
- date last changed
- 2026-06-25 11:15:48
@misc{9232185,
abstract = {{This thesis examines how Chinese university students experience digital productivity apps in their everyday study lives. It focuses on apps such as Pomodoro Timer and Forest, asking how students understand the relationship between their own self-control and the forms of control built into these platforms. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with four final-year students, together with a discourse-informed analysis of app interfaces. The findings show that productivity apps make study activities more visible by turning them into tasks and focus-time data. Students often use these tools willingly because they help create structure and make progress feel more concrete. At the same time, the same features can also produce pressure. Unfinished tasks and low focus-time records may remind students that they have not done enough. To describe this feeling, the thesis uses the concept of “efficiency anxiety”: a quiet but persistent sense that one should be using time better or becoming more productive. The analysis draws on Foucault’s ideas of biopolitics and governmentality, as well as Deleuze’s theory of control societies. These theories help explain why productivity apps are not experienced simply as external control. Students actively use them to manage themselves, but their self-management is shaped by the app’s reminders and feedback. The thesis identifies four different usage orientations among participants. It also shows that efficiency anxiety can lead students either to regulate themselves more strictly or to step back temporarily through practices such as “lying flat.” Overall, the study contributes to research on digital self-management by showing how self-control and platform-mediated control become closely connected in productivity app use.}},
author = {{Hu, Jiayi}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Platform-Mediated Self-Control: Digital Productivity Technologies and Efficiency Anxiety among Chinese University Students}},
year = {{2026}},
}