Imagining Consequences of Excessive Smartphone Use via a Character-Based Mobile Application

Excessive use of smartphones or other electronic screen products and the associated symptoms of addiction among youngsters have sparked concerns. This study explores possibilities of preventing adolescents or young adults from excessive smartphone use via a character-based mobile application stimula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of mental health and addiction Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 1420 - 1434
Main Authors Chow, Kenny K. N., Leong, Benny D., Lee, Brian Y. H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.12.2018
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Addictions
Addictive behaviors
Behavior
Brain research
Cognition & reasoning
Community and Environmental Psychology
Computers
Embodied cognition
Feedback
Health Psychology
Internet
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Metaphor
Neurosciences
Original Article
Parents & parenting
Personal computers
Psychiatry
Psychology
Public Health
Rehabilitation
Screen time
Simulation
Smartphones
Students
Teenagers
Intervention
Embodied cognition
Liveliness
Smartphone
Interaction design
Internet addiction
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Summary:Excessive use of smartphones or other electronic screen products and the associated symptoms of addiction among youngsters have sparked concerns. This study explores possibilities of preventing adolescents or young adults from excessive smartphone use via a character-based mobile application stimulating their imagination and reflection. The character responds contingently to a user’s act of switching on or off the screen, causing one to associate the effects on the character with excessive use. This approach, grounded in the embodied cognition thesis, combines behavior with imaginative consequences for one to experience, which combat the rewarding neural pathways activated in addictive behaviors. The application was deployed in a field trial. Each participant’s usage was tracked via automated logging, and cognitive responses were probed through in-depth interviews. Interview data were analyzed, followed by comparison with logged data. Overall, about half of the participants attributed imaginative consequences to their ways of using phones. One third of the participants showed evidence of positive change in using phones. These two groups substantially overlapped. The results suggest that experientially grounded association of virtual consequences with physical acts could correlate with behavior change. Using figurative representation as feedback could be promising in supporting individuals for healthy habits.
ISSN:1557-1874
1557-1882
DOI:10.1007/s11469-018-9984-7