abstract

The Smartphone "Addiction" Narrative is Compelling, but Largely Unfounded

Authors:

Simone Lanette,

Melissa MazmanianAuthors Info & Claims

CHI EA '18: Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Paper No.: LBW023, Pages 1 - 6

https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188584

Published: 20 April 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Smartphone "addiction" concerns have increased steadily over the past decade. Mainstream media perpetuates these fears, often building on scholarly research in an extreme and dramatized style (e.g., comparing smartphones to heroin and cocaine, claiming that smartphones have destroyed a generation, etc.). We review how the relationship between scholarly research and media outlets engender the idea that smartphones are a danger and perpetuate the view that addiction is a widespread phenomenon. We further explore the origins of 'addiction' measures for technology use and argue that such measures are not sufficient in assessing clinical pathology. We end with preliminary findings from an experimental and interview study of smartphones with parents and teens and explore the role of "addiction" narratives for individual interpretations of smartphone use.

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Digital Library

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Cited By

Currin FHourcade J(2024)Creating Personas of Parents of Young Children Based on Balancing PrioritiesProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655790(105-118)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655790
Escher NBanovic N(2024)Hexing Twitter: Channeling Ancient Magic to Bind Mechanisms of ExtractionExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3644071(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3644071
Lyngs ULukoff KSlovak PInzlicht MFreed MAndrews HTinsman CCsuka LAlberts LOldemburgo De Mello VMakransky GHornbæk KVan Kleek MShadbolt N(2024)“I finally felt I had the tools to control these urges”: Empowering Students to Achieve Their Device Use Goals With the Reduce Digital Distraction WorkshopProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642946(1-23)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642946
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Index Terms

The Smartphone "Addiction" Narrative is Compelling, but Largely Unfounded
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Computing / technology policy

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI EA '18: Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2018

3155 pages

ISBN:9781450356213

DOI:10.1145/3170427

General Chairs:
Regan Mandryk
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
,
Mark Hancock
University of Waterloo, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Mark Perry
Brunel University London, UK
,
Anna Cox
University College London, UK

Copyright © 2018 Owner/Author.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 20 April 2018

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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

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CHI '18: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 21 - 26, 2018

Montreal QC, Canada

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CHI EA '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 1,208 of 3,955 submissions, 31%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

Currin FHourcade J(2024)Creating Personas of Parents of Young Children Based on Balancing PrioritiesProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655790(105-118)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655790
Escher NBanovic N(2024)Hexing Twitter: Channeling Ancient Magic to Bind Mechanisms of ExtractionExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3644071(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3644071
Lyngs ULukoff KSlovak PInzlicht MFreed MAndrews HTinsman CCsuka LAlberts LOldemburgo De Mello VMakransky GHornbæk KVan Kleek MShadbolt N(2024)“I finally felt I had the tools to control these urges”: Empowering Students to Achieve Their Device Use Goals With the Reduce Digital Distraction WorkshopProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642946(1-23)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642946
Terzimehić NHuber JAragon-Hahner SMayer S(2024)Real-World Winds: Micro Challenges to Promote Balance Post Smartphone OverloadProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642583(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642583
Lee AEllison NHancock J(2023)To use or be used? The role of agency in social media use and well-beingFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2023.11233235Online publication date: 3-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2023.1123323
Terzimehić NDraxler FAhsanpour MSchmidt A(2023)Implicit Smartphone Use Interventions to Promote Life-Technology Balance: An App-Market Survey, Design Space and the Case of Life-RelaunchedProceedings of Mensch und Computer 202310.1145/3603555.3603578(237-249)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3603555.3603578
Terzimehić NAragon-Hahner SHussmann H(2023)The Tale of a Complicated RelationshipProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/35807927:1(1-34)Online publication date: 28-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3580792
Hung MYuan CBi NChen YLee WHuang MYou C(2022)To Use or Abuse: Opportunities and Difficulties in the Use of Multi-channel Support to Reduce Technology Abuse by AdolescentsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35129726:CSCW1(1-27)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3512972
Aagaard JKnudsen MBækgaard PDoherty K(2022)A Game of Dark Patterns: Designing Healthy, Highly-Engaging Mobile GamesExtended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491101.3519837(1-8)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491101.3519837
Roffarello ADe Russis L(2021)Understanding, Discovering, and Mitigating Habitual Smartphone Use in Young AdultsACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/344799111:2(1-34)Online publication date: 21-Jul-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3447991
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