{"id":24227,"date":"2018-05-29T16:27:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T20:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=24227"},"modified":"2022-03-16T11:32:49","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:32:49","slug":"smartphones-use-more-than-we-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/smartphones-use-more-than-we-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Using Our Smartphones More Than We Think?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When was the last time you looked at your smartphone? For most people, checking for a text, email or update has become second nature, and now research proves that we look at our smartphone more often than we are even aware of. <\/span><\/p>\n

A team from two universities in the UK — Lancaster University and the University of Lincoln — has determined that <\/span>checking smartphones<\/span><\/a> has become an unconscious and extremely repetitive action. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The study is unique because it analyzed smartphone fixation through research techniques, instead of asking people to self-report their usage through a survey or questionnaire. <\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers evaluated how often people truly look at their smartphones, rather than relying on people\u2019s memory. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this analysis we wanted to get an idea of how consistent this behaviour is over time,\u201d said <\/span>David Ellis<\/span><\/a>, a lecturer in computational social science at Lancaster University and co-author of the study. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if I check my phone 80 times today, am I also likely to do this tomorrow?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers found that while people underestimate time spent on their smartphones, the use is extremely consistent.<\/p>\n

People who check their phones 80 times in one day are, in fact, likely to do the same every other day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur results also suggest that rather than smartphone use becoming ever more frequent, people are actually very good at regulating this behaviour over time,\u201d said Ellis. <\/span><\/p>\n

Standard surveys are unable to predict these behaviors, he explained. <\/span><\/p>\n

The research<\/b><\/h2>\n

To conduct the study, the team gathered a group of participants and used a simple smartphone app that time-stamped when each person\u2019s usage began and ended.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis data was then processed to provide the number of hours a person’s smartphone was used each day. And the number of times the device was checked,\u201d said Ellis. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChecks were considered as any use that lasted less than 15 seconds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The team was able to conduct their research over a short, 13-day period, proving that other researchers that want to evaluate usage patterns don\u2019t need to track behavior for very long. <\/span><\/p>\n