Here's why people keep checking their phones compulsively
| May 2, 2019, 16:11 IST
Do you stay glued to your phone for so long you lose track of time? Do you check your phone whenever you've got a minute in-between your work? Well, so do most other people. It's safe to say that these days people are on their phone almost all the time. They spend most of their waking hours glued to their phone screens and researchers have now conducted in-depth interviews with people as to figure out what causes them to check their phones compulsively.
As per the research, it was found that there were certain triggers that caused this compulsiveness in people and they varied across different age groups. The researchers also asked people for their solutions to these compulsions. "For a couple of years, I've been looking at people's experiences with smartphones and listening to them talk about their frustration with the way they engage with their phones. But on the flip side, when we ask people what they find meaningful about their phone use, nobody says, 'Oh, nothing.' Everyone can point to experiences with their phone that have personal and persistent meaning," said co-author Alexis Hiniker.
The researchers interviewed three separate groups of people, one that comprised of high school students, the other comprised of college students and the third comprised of adults who had graduated from college. They also found that the triggers for these three groups were the same. "This doesn't mean that teens use their phones the same way adults do. But I think this compulsive itch to turn back to your phone plays out the same way across all these groups. People talked about everything in the same terms: The high school students would say 'Anytime I have a dead moment if I have one minute between classes I pull out my phone.' And the adults would say 'Anytime I have one dead moment if I have one minute between seeing patients at work I pull out my phone," Hiniker said.
"People describe it as an economic calculation. Like, 'How much time do I spend with this app and how much of that time is actually invested in something lasting that transcends this specific moment of use?' Some experiences promote a lot of compulsive use, and that dilutes the time people spend on activities that are meaningful,” she added. Stay tuned for more updates.
As per the research, it was found that there were certain triggers that caused this compulsiveness in people and they varied across different age groups. The researchers also asked people for their solutions to these compulsions. "For a couple of years, I've been looking at people's experiences with smartphones and listening to them talk about their frustration with the way they engage with their phones. But on the flip side, when we ask people what they find meaningful about their phone use, nobody says, 'Oh, nothing.' Everyone can point to experiences with their phone that have personal and persistent meaning," said co-author Alexis Hiniker.
The researchers interviewed three separate groups of people, one that comprised of high school students, the other comprised of college students and the third comprised of adults who had graduated from college. They also found that the triggers for these three groups were the same. "This doesn't mean that teens use their phones the same way adults do. But I think this compulsive itch to turn back to your phone plays out the same way across all these groups. People talked about everything in the same terms: The high school students would say 'Anytime I have a dead moment if I have one minute between classes I pull out my phone.' And the adults would say 'Anytime I have one dead moment if I have one minute between seeing patients at work I pull out my phone," Hiniker said.
"People describe it as an economic calculation. Like, 'How much time do I spend with this app and how much of that time is actually invested in something lasting that transcends this specific moment of use?' Some experiences promote a lot of compulsive use, and that dilutes the time people spend on activities that are meaningful,” she added. Stay tuned for more updates.