Researchers are now suggesting the there are some serious flaws in a large majority of studies and surveys that have been conducted in recent times which examines the impact on the psychological wellbeing of an individual from the excessive usage of modern technology – especially digital and phone technology.
With the dramatic rise in the purchase and daily use of smartpohone across the world, there have also been several studies and surveys that have been conducted to gain an understanding the pattern of usage of smartphones among people. A section of researchers however say now that many of such researches were poorly and inaccurately related to the actual smartphone use when such usage is measured with the help of an app.
The conclusion and indications by this new set of researchers questioning previous surveys therefore means that any change in policy related to smartphones done on the basis of existing evidence which suggest that screen time is 'addictive' would essentially ne unjustified.
However, the official policy should not solely rely on existing studies using self-reports, says Dr David Ellis, one of the study's researchers.
"Knowing how much someone thinks or worries about their smartphone use leaves many questions unanswered", Dr Ellis said in the study which was published in the Journal of International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.
The study conducted by the team was based on the close examination of 10 addiction surveys that were used for measuring the technology use of people which included ones such as the Smartphone Addiction Scale and the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale. These scales and measures were used in the studies to generate scores for the determination of the extent of usage.
The researchers then conducted a comparison of the self-reports selected with the data available from Apple Screen Time that offers its users an objective measurement of how many minutes people used their phones, how often the phones were picked up by their users and the number of notifications that were received by them.
The outcome of the comparison was that the researchers noted some significant difference and weak relationship between how much people believe they use their smartphones and the actual time of usage by them.
"Our results suggest that the majority of these self-report smartphone assessments perform poorly when attempting to predict real-world behaviour. We need to revisit and improve these measurements moving forward", added, another researcher Miss Davidson.
Researchers have previously related the existence and onset of ailments such as anxiety and depression in humans to the higher usage of smartphone usage. However, according to the examination and conclusion conducted by the team headed by Dr Ellis, there is insufficient evidence to lend support and credibility of such previous conclusions.
"Scales that focus on the notion of technology 'addiction' performed very poorly and were unable to classify people into different groups based on their behavior," said Dr Ellis
(Source:www.livemint.com)
With the dramatic rise in the purchase and daily use of smartpohone across the world, there have also been several studies and surveys that have been conducted to gain an understanding the pattern of usage of smartphones among people. A section of researchers however say now that many of such researches were poorly and inaccurately related to the actual smartphone use when such usage is measured with the help of an app.
The conclusion and indications by this new set of researchers questioning previous surveys therefore means that any change in policy related to smartphones done on the basis of existing evidence which suggest that screen time is 'addictive' would essentially ne unjustified.
However, the official policy should not solely rely on existing studies using self-reports, says Dr David Ellis, one of the study's researchers.
"Knowing how much someone thinks or worries about their smartphone use leaves many questions unanswered", Dr Ellis said in the study which was published in the Journal of International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.
The study conducted by the team was based on the close examination of 10 addiction surveys that were used for measuring the technology use of people which included ones such as the Smartphone Addiction Scale and the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale. These scales and measures were used in the studies to generate scores for the determination of the extent of usage.
The researchers then conducted a comparison of the self-reports selected with the data available from Apple Screen Time that offers its users an objective measurement of how many minutes people used their phones, how often the phones were picked up by their users and the number of notifications that were received by them.
The outcome of the comparison was that the researchers noted some significant difference and weak relationship between how much people believe they use their smartphones and the actual time of usage by them.
"Our results suggest that the majority of these self-report smartphone assessments perform poorly when attempting to predict real-world behaviour. We need to revisit and improve these measurements moving forward", added, another researcher Miss Davidson.
Researchers have previously related the existence and onset of ailments such as anxiety and depression in humans to the higher usage of smartphone usage. However, according to the examination and conclusion conducted by the team headed by Dr Ellis, there is insufficient evidence to lend support and credibility of such previous conclusions.
"Scales that focus on the notion of technology 'addiction' performed very poorly and were unable to classify people into different groups based on their behavior," said Dr Ellis
(Source:www.livemint.com)
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