Overview
There is a growing concern that many individuals overuse smartphones in the presence of their family members, which sometimes creates frustration and relationship stress among them. Though couples remain co-located for a substantial portion of each day, very little effort has been made in quantifying couples' co-located smartphone usage and exploring ways to reduce it. The research that I conducted for this project had two goals:
- Quantifying individual and co-located smartphone usage among couples
- Exploring the use of notifications as a means to reduce couples' smartphone usage activities
Research Set-Up
Initial Questionnairre
Collected participants' demographic information
Preference towards receiving notification on smartphones
User Study
Study 1: Investigate couples' smartphone usage patterns such as what type of apps they use, how long they use them, and the average usage duration, both when they were alone and co-located.
Study 2: Explore smartphone notifications as a medium to remind couples about the presence of their partner and encouraged them to reduce their co-located smartphone activities.
Duration: 2-weeks (Study 1) & 4-weeks (Study 2)
Semi-Structured Interview
Participants were asked to provide their opinion on receiving notifications to reduce their co-located smartphone usage
Interviews were conducted using Zoom
Duration: 30-40 minutes.
Data Analysis
Quantitative Analysis: Java, MS Excel, SPSS
Qualitative Analysis: Thematic Analysis (NViVo)
App Design
I developed two smartphone apps with the purpose of:
- Logging couples' smartphone usage behaviour (e.g., what apps they use, how long they use the apps)
- Sending notifications on their smartphones to reduce their smartphone usage when they were co-located
For Study 1, I developed an Android app that is compatible with Android
version 7.0 (API level 14) above. I wanted the app to be less intrusive so that participants would be able to use their smartphones without any interference from the app. Therefore, the app was written as a
background services to collect the required information from smartphones. Therefore, once the app is installed and started on the smartphone, it continues running in the background even if the phone is restarted. The app
automatically logs the following information on files inside the smartphones:
- Installed apps on the phone
- GPS coordinates
- Currently running apps
- Lock/Unlock events
- App duration
For Study 2, I developed another Android app, this time to send notifications to co-located smartphone users to reduce their smartphone usage. This app was written as a
background service to collect data and send notifications without interrupting users' on-going activities. Additionally,
the app sent a notification to a participant when they spent more than 5 minutes on their smartphone while co-located with their partner. If participants were still using their smartphone after receiving a notification, the app kept sending notifications every 5 minutes until they stopped using their smartphone. The app collected the same information about smartphone usage patterns as it did in Study 1.
I used
Wi-Fi Direct API that detects and connects two co-located devices and enables data sharing between them without requiring a Wi-Fi access point or Internet connection.
Key Insights
As the research was interrupted due to COVID-19, there were couples working from home (WFH) and not working from home (NWFH). Thus, I provide the results in terms of WFH and NWFH couples.
