Smartphones as digital companions: Characterizing the relationship between users and their phones (original) (raw)
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Computers in Human Behavior, 2017
As mobile phones have evolved into Smartphones, they have become more than simple communication tools; transforming into personal assistants, entertainment devices and information gateways. There is a need to understand how this rapid transformation and complexity of Smartphone uses have impacted on users' relationship with their phones. This study presents a thematic analysis of three focus group discussions around attitudes and experiences of owning and using Smartphones. Themes that emerged included a bifurcation in attitudes to Smartphones as simultaneously materialistic objects, and ones which users express anthropomorphic and sentimental views about. Participant accounts reflected the evolution of Smartphones from functional communication devices, to informational and recreational tools. Participants discussed using Smartphones to alleviate boredom and that device usage had become habituated for some users. However, context determined Smartphone use with some participants using them to feel secure while away from familiar settings. Participant accounts provide rich insights into different Smartphones uses and infer numerous implications for understanding why some users develop strong psychological attachments to them. Findings also imply that users may not be attached to the device itself, but rather the affordances on offer. The implications of these findings, for example in the assessment of Smartphone addiction, are discussed.
Me, Myself and my Smartphone: Antecedents of Smartphone Attachment: An Abstract
2019
Smartphones have become globally famous and change since their introduction to everyday life. The rapid rise in the use of smartphones, for instance, has significantly influenced consumer behavior. The resulting increase of smartphone usage in purchase-related situations, however, also yields negative consequences (e.g., consumer distress, decreasing attention). Hence, more still ever marketers are challenged to develop a deeper understanding of these novel objects of consumer behavior. Extant research provides limited insights on the relationship between consumers and their smartphones. Inspired by the ideas of attachment theory, we hence seek to fill this gap by investigating antecedents of consumers’ smartphone attachment. Extant research reveals that attachment to nonhuman objects like brands, places, and popular objects/products equals patterns of interpersonal attachment. Smartphones are considered as one of the most prevalent objects of modern society, which are constantly ke...
Helpful-stressful cycle? Psychological links between type of mobile phone user and stress
Behaviour & Information Technology, 2015
The profusion of smartphones allows more people to have access to a telephone, a computer and the Internet, all via one device. Despite this convenience, excessive usage and habitual checking can cause significant stress for smartphone users. A helpful-stressful cycle is beginning to emerge as a pattern. With this in mind, we develop a model that examines the differences between smartphone and traditional mobile phone users with regard to the relationships between four psychological factors: locus of control (LOC), social interaction anxiety (SIA), need for touch (NFT) and materialism. Our examination explores this in the context of the level of stress these two types of users experience when using their chosen phone. The results from our empirical study suggest that user type moderates the aforementioned relationships. The effects of LOC, SIA and NFT on 'technostress' are stronger for smartphone users than for traditional mobile phone users. In contrast, materialism is positively related to stress for traditional mobile phone users but not for smartphone users.
The dark side of smartphone usage: Psychological traits, compulsive behavior and technostress
2014
Smartphones have become necessities in people' lives. Along with its obvious benefits, however, the smartphone has other effects that are not all that glorious. This study investigates the dark side of the smartphone trend. We examine the link between psychological traits and the compulsive behaviors of smartphone users, and look further into the stress caused by those compulsive behaviors. We conducted an empirical study consisting of 325 participants and compared Structural Equation Modeling with competing models. The results suggest that compulsive usage of smartphone and technostress are positively related to psychological traits including locus of control, social interaction anxiety, materialism and the need for touch. Gender differences are also found in the aforementioned relationships. The results have practical implications to user-oriented smartphone design and operation companies as well as government agencies as they combat the social ills brought on by smartphones.
Continued Usage and Dependency of Smartphones
International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 2020
Smartphones have become an integral part of everyone's life. Being a powerful communication device, the number of subscribers is persistently increasing every year. Younger generation are often the early adopters of smartphones. Because of its educational and entertaining options students have adopted them easily. This study aims to identify the factors that lead to student dependency on smartphones and thus leading to continued usage. The data was collected from undergraduate students and was analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results of the study show that performance expectancy, social needs, social influence, convenience has a positive relationship on dependency on smartphones and dependency on smartphones has a positive relationship on continued usage of smartphones. The findings have led to theoretical and practical implications and future researches are suggested.
IV. BASKENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES, 2023
Today, smartphones have become a part of people's lives. While there are debates about whether technology drives human desires or whether changing human desires force technology to find new things, people spend more and more time with these devices every day as more expectations are met. These devices offer us many conveniences such as voice and video communication, accessing the internet, browsing the web, making phone calls, navigating with GPS, playing music and videos, interacting with people for business management, sending e-mails, playing games, shopping, tracking education and health. In addition to all these conveniences, excessive use during the day is a possible indicator of behavioral addiction. While addiction is defined as a repetitive habitual state that increases the risk of disease and is associated with individual and social problems, behavioral addiction is a type of addiction characterized by a specific behavioral pattern. Smartphones have various types of addiction on human behavior such as mobile addiction, social media addiction, gaming addiction, internet addiction, screen addiction and technology addiction. In addition to their benefits, they have negative consequences such as deterioration of mental health and well-being, causing depression and anxiety, low academic performance and decreased work success, deterioration of family and marital relationships, and worsening eating habits. In this study, we provide information about the studies conducted in the world on smartphone use. In addition, preliminary analysis results of some questions in a study we are currently conducting are shared. The results show that smartphones will continue to be used despite their benefits, time management problems, disruption of work, and some health and psychological problems.
In discussing the effect of the use of mobile phones, this chapter is not about the device itself but rather all that it engenders. The mobile phone is a means of achieving continuous connectivity provoking feelings of intimacy and of being permanently tethered to loved ones as well as of being on call to less welcome people. It is the ways that people have adapted existing social practices to manage this that lies at the heart of the explanation of whether or not people are affected by their mobile phones. Three case studies from research are used to provide an empirical context for examining the topic. This research was conducted during two years of studies1 completed in 2004 that investigated the social shaping of the new third generation mobile phone technology. Theoretical aspects are addressed by exploring some of the ways in which others have examined the sentient aspects of our lives to reveal the complex mesh of elements that affect everyday life. It continues by highlighting analogies between these writings and the social practices of mobile phone users identified in the research
Current Psychology , 2023
1957). Today, this socialization process is provided by technologies such as smartphones rather than face-to-face communication (Drago, 2015). This situation largely represents less face-to-face communication and, as a result, a more isolated life from the social environment (Rotondi et al., 2017; Subrahmanyam et al., 2008). According to the We Are Social (2022) report, there are 5.31 billion mobile phone users globally, and according to the Pew Research Center (2018) report, there are 2.5 billion smartphone users. In the same report, it is stated that the amount of time spent on mobile phones daily in Turkey is 4:24, and the world average is 4:48. Between 2016 and 2021, the number of smartphone subscribers increased from 3.7 billion to 6.3 billion (O'dea, 2022a). This number is expected to reach 6.6 billion in 2022 and 7.7 billion in 2027 (O'dea, 2022b). Thanks to its numerous features, smartphones have become a necessity for users. Despite its many benefits, excessive use of smartphones can result in adverse effects (Hou et al., 2021). This misuse of technology has traditionally been associated with the addiction phenomenon, commonly used for alcohol and drugs (Al-Kandari & Al-Sejari, 2020). In the literature, this misuse of smartphones is characterized as problematic