A study by Lancaster University and the University of Lincoln is unique in that it is one of a few studies that examined smartphone usage based on what people do rather than what they can remember.<\/p>\n Existing research is yet to conclude whether people really are ‘addicted’ to their smartphones due to over reliance on people’s own estimates or beliefs.<\/p>\n But new research into smartphone behaviour has revealed that while people underestimate time spent on their smartphones, their behaviour is remarkably consistent<\/strong>, thus enabling a more rigorous approach to the study of smartphone behaviours.<\/p>\n The researchers analysed usage over 13 days using a simple smartphone app which time stamped when usage began and ended.<\/p>\n From this data, they were able to calculate the number of total hours usage and the number of checks for each day, with a check defined as any usage lasting less than 15 seconds.<\/p>\n They found that:<\/strong><\/p>\n For example, the researchers found that if you check your phone 80 times today, you are likely to repeat this behaviour every day.<\/p>\n Dr Tom Wilcockson from Lancaster University said: “Multiple checks could indicate an absent minded use of mobile phones<\/strong>, which is habitual and unconscious.”<\/p>\n Most smartphone usage has so far been assessed using self-report tools including surveys and questionnaires, which Dr David Ellis said have previously been shown to be unreliable.<\/p>\n Heather Shaw from the University of Lincoln added: “This may be because smartphone use is automatic and difficult for people to remember.”<\/p>\n The UK Government is currently conducting an enquiry around the impact of screen time and social media on young people.<\/p>\n Dr Ellis said: “To fully understand the effect of screen time on health and well-being, we probably need to consider measures of smartphone behaviour as well as self-report.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Lancaster University press release: Checking your phone dozens of times a day indicates unconscious behaviour, which is “extremely repetitive” say psychologists. A study by Lancaster University and the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[526,348],"tags":[20,12,148,235],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26622"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26648,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26622\/revisions\/26648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Using-cellphone-at-night-300x200.jpg\")
Checking your phone dozens of times a day indicates unconscious behaviour<\/strong>, which is “extremely repetitive” say psychologists.<\/p>\n\n