Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Quantifying Smartphone “Use”

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Quantifying Smartphone “Use”: Choice of Measurement Impacts Relationships Between “Usage” and Health

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published

Standard

Quantifying Smartphone “Use”: Choice of Measurement Impacts Relationships Between “Usage” and Health. / Shaw, Heather; Ellis, David; Geyer, Kristoffer et al.
In: Technology, Mind, and Behavior, Vol. 1, No. 2, 30.11.2020.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

APA

Vancouver

Shaw H, Ellis D, Geyer K, Davidson B, Ziegler F, Smith A. Quantifying Smartphone “Use”: Choice of Measurement Impacts Relationships Between “Usage” and Health. Technology, Mind, and Behavior. 2020 Nov 30;1(2). doi: 10.1037/tmb0000022

Author

Bibtex

@article{50611340feca4c59a55769d30d055f06,
title = "Quantifying Smartphone “Use”: Choice of Measurement Impacts Relationships Between “Usage” and Health",
abstract = "Problematic smartphone scales and duration estimates of use dominate research that considers the impact of smartphones on people and society. However, issues with conceptualization and subsequent measurement can obscure genuine associations between technology use and health. Here, we consider whether different ways of measuring “smartphone use,” notably through problematic smartphone use (PSU) scales, subjective estimates, or objective logs, lead to contrasting associations between mental and physical health. Across two samples including iPhone (n = 199) and Android (n = 46) users, we observed that measuring smartphone interactions with PSU scales produced larger associations between mental health when compared with subjective estimates or objective logs. Notably, the size of the relationship was fourfold in Study 1, and almost three times as large in Study 2, when relying on a PSU scale that measured smartphone “addiction” instead of objective use. Further, in regression models, only smartphone “addiction” scores predicted mental health outcomes, whereas objective logs or estimates were not significant predictors. We conclude that addressing people{\textquoteright}s appraisals including worries about their technology usage is likely to have greater mental health benefits than reducing their overall smartphone use. Reducing general smartphone use should therefore not be a priority for public health interventions at this time.",
keywords = "Digital Health, Mental Health, Methods, Screen Time, Sedentary Behavior, Technology",
author = "Heather Shaw and David Ellis and Kristoffer Geyer and Brittany Davidson and Fenja Ziegler and Alice Smith",
year = "2020",
month = nov,
day = "30",
doi = "10.1037/tmb0000022",
language = "English",
volume = "1",
journal = "Technology, Mind, and Behavior",
issn = "2689-0208",
publisher = "American Psychological Association",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quantifying Smartphone “Use”

T2 - Choice of Measurement Impacts Relationships Between “Usage” and Health

AU - Shaw, Heather

AU - Ellis, David

AU - Geyer, Kristoffer

AU - Davidson, Brittany

AU - Ziegler, Fenja

AU - Smith, Alice

PY - 2020/11/30

Y1 - 2020/11/30

N2 - Problematic smartphone scales and duration estimates of use dominate research that considers the impact of smartphones on people and society. However, issues with conceptualization and subsequent measurement can obscure genuine associations between technology use and health. Here, we consider whether different ways of measuring “smartphone use,” notably through problematic smartphone use (PSU) scales, subjective estimates, or objective logs, lead to contrasting associations between mental and physical health. Across two samples including iPhone (n = 199) and Android (n = 46) users, we observed that measuring smartphone interactions with PSU scales produced larger associations between mental health when compared with subjective estimates or objective logs. Notably, the size of the relationship was fourfold in Study 1, and almost three times as large in Study 2, when relying on a PSU scale that measured smartphone “addiction” instead of objective use. Further, in regression models, only smartphone “addiction” scores predicted mental health outcomes, whereas objective logs or estimates were not significant predictors. We conclude that addressing people’s appraisals including worries about their technology usage is likely to have greater mental health benefits than reducing their overall smartphone use. Reducing general smartphone use should therefore not be a priority for public health interventions at this time.

AB - Problematic smartphone scales and duration estimates of use dominate research that considers the impact of smartphones on people and society. However, issues with conceptualization and subsequent measurement can obscure genuine associations between technology use and health. Here, we consider whether different ways of measuring “smartphone use,” notably through problematic smartphone use (PSU) scales, subjective estimates, or objective logs, lead to contrasting associations between mental and physical health. Across two samples including iPhone (n = 199) and Android (n = 46) users, we observed that measuring smartphone interactions with PSU scales produced larger associations between mental health when compared with subjective estimates or objective logs. Notably, the size of the relationship was fourfold in Study 1, and almost three times as large in Study 2, when relying on a PSU scale that measured smartphone “addiction” instead of objective use. Further, in regression models, only smartphone “addiction” scores predicted mental health outcomes, whereas objective logs or estimates were not significant predictors. We conclude that addressing people’s appraisals including worries about their technology usage is likely to have greater mental health benefits than reducing their overall smartphone use. Reducing general smartphone use should therefore not be a priority for public health interventions at this time.

KW - Digital Health

KW - Mental Health

KW - Methods

KW - Screen Time

KW - Sedentary Behavior

KW - Technology

U2 - 10.1037/tmb0000022

DO - 10.1037/tmb0000022

M3 - Journal article

VL - 1

JO - Technology, Mind, and Behavior

JF - Technology, Mind, and Behavior

SN - 2689-0208

IS - 2

ER -