Abstract

In the digital era, smartphones have become an integral part of our lives – much like an appendage. We have come to rely on these devices for communication, information, entertainment, and so much more. However, over-reliance on smartphones can have dire consequences. Prior research has found that excessive mobile phone use is associated with adverse consequences in different spheres of life (Nehra et al. 2012). Such adverse effects can extend to family, personal, and professional life (Zheng and Lee 2016). Younger people have even been found to prioritize using their phones over seeing loved ones (Die Presse 2018). Understanding why individuals use smartphones is relatively straightforward, but there is still not enough research into how individuals use smartphones and their effects on health and work. This research idea stemmed from studies that link information system (IS) usage to habit development (Limayem et al. 2007). In this case, the information system of interest is a smartphone, and we extend beyond habit development into health outcomes such as anxiety, stress, and addiction, as well as work outcomes such as productivity and efficiency. We aim to examine whether there is a relationship between how people use their smartphones and their health and work outcomes. When considering IS usage, three types of data exist – actual usage data, surveys, and interviews. While many studies, including Limayem et al. 2007, use surveys and interviews to analyze IS usage, we propose including additional actual usage data. Actual data in terms of smartphone usage can be extracted from activity-tracking smartphone applications. We can further expand the survey from smartphone usage items to include items that measure health and work outcomes. With these three types of data at hand, we can assess two things: (1) the impact of smartphone use (both actual and perceived) on health and work outcomes and (2) the difference between actual and perceived smartphone use. Furthermore, the actual usage data obtained from activity-tracking smartphone applications can uncover patterns of smartphone activity behavior that may be associated with stress, anxiety, or other outcomes. For example, patterns of phone checking in the absence of notifications or the sequence of actions performed by a subject may help us differentiate constructive from destructive behavior. Incorporating a survey also allows us to collect demographic data, which we can use to determine whether there are significant generational or gender differences in smartphone usage and their corresponding effects on health and work. To start examining possible outcomes linked to smartphone usage, we aim to undertake a pilot study.

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