Paper Reading - Is Time on Smartphones Well Spent?
Is Time on Smartphones Well Spent?
Author
Maria A. Rasmussen, Julie O. Frydendahl, Elisa D. Mekler, Kasper Hornbæk
Keywords
smartphones; user experience; well-being
WHAT
- studies on the time spent on smartphones, the specific applications used, the motivation for using them and their effects on well-being
WHY
limitations of previous studies
no explanation about how the applications that the participants rated were selected
no definition and measurement about how being happy or unhappy with an app
no exploration about the different uses of apps
no details why the users are happy or unhappy with the time they spend on applications
HOW
Indenpendent variables: Time usage
Frequently used applications
Occasionally used applications
Participants select from an overview of their usage history in the past 7 days
- usage history was based on the feature Screen Time from the participants’ iPhone
Participants answer the same questions about the usage of each of those two applications (within-subjects)
Dependent variables: Results of Questionnaires
validated questionnaires, single-item questions and open-ended questions
use overlap to achieve a coherent description of users’ experiences
Conceptualize happiness as hedonic, eudaimonic and pragmatic
Hedonic value is the emotional stimulation and subjective well-being that the user experiences when interacting with technology.
Eudaimonic value is about technology supporting the achievement of personally meaningful goals and aspirations
Pragmatic value is the user’s experience ofa product’s usability and effectiveness
Design of questionaires
HEMA Scale
pragmatic motivational orientations
General value
notion of regret
binary choices of characterizing smartphone use
open-ended questions
Participants
recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk
iPhone users with iOS 12
have Screen Time enabled for the past 7 days
e between 24 and 69 years old
70% female and 30% male
Procedure
use Amazon Mechanical Turk
answer demographic questions
answer the questionaires
Analysis
- a thematic analysis on open-ended questions
Results
Time and application type
- application types are not in themselves related to particular patterns of use
Time and value
Pragmatic values: Occasionally used applications > Frequently used applications
Hedonic values: Occasionally used applications < Frequently used applications
Eudaimonic value: no significant differences
Time and regret
more likely to regret their use of a frequently used application than an occasionally used app
reasons for finding the time usage good
frequently used applications - relaxation
occasionally used applications - functionality and necessity
Time and when applications are used
- no obvious difference between frequently used and occasionally used applications with regard to time of use
Discussion
App Ratings Study
Differences in value between applications
Motivation for using applications
Regret
Limitations and future work