Identifying Indicators of Smartphone Addiction Through User-App Interaction
Noë B, Turner LD, Linden DEJ, Allen SM, Winkens B, Whitaker RM
Computers in human behavior · 34 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cohort study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Nonprofit
- Wellcome Trust
- University or hospital
- Cardiff University
Based on 2 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2019-05-12 · Comput Human Behav · vol. 99 · pp. 56–65
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Cited
- 137 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 37.9× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 95 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Child Development and Digital Technology · Green IT and Sustainability
- Keywords
- smartphone addiction, user interface interaction, lifestyle apps, social media applications, Snapchat, gender differences, adolescents, mobile application design
6 authors
From GB, NL
- Beryl Noë · correspondingCardiff University
- Liam D. TurnerCardiff University
- David E.J. LindenMaastricht University
- Stuart M. AllenCardiff University
- Björn WinkensMaastricht University; Care and Public Health Research Institute
- Roger M. WhitakerCardiff University
Abstract
We introduce a new approach to monitoring the activity of smartphone users based on their physical interactions with the interface. Typical events are taps, scrolling and typing, carried out to interact with apps. As compared to other measures, this directly encapsulates potential problematic physical smartphone behaviour as a signal. The approach contrasts against conventions such as self-reporting or timing activity sessions, and it focusses on active rather than passive smartphone activity. Using this alternative method, we collected all user interface interaction events from a sample of 64 participants over a period of 8 weeks, using a bespoke monitoring app called Tymer. User Smartphone Addiction was seen to significantly correlate with high levels of interaction with Lifestyle apps, particularly for female users. Interactions with Social apps in general were also associated with Smartphone Addiction. In particular, user interactions with Snapchat correlated with Smartphone Addiction, represented across all types of interface interaction. This is significant given the widespread usage of Snapchat by teenagers, and we hypothesise that the app's design provides a particularly strong pathway in support of Smartphone Addiction.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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