The impact of smartphone use on gait in young adults: Cognitive load vs posture of texting

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 10; p. e0240118
• Main Authors: Kim, Sung-Hyeon, Jung, Jin-Hwa, Shin, Ho-jin, Hahm, Suk-Chan, Cho, Hwi-young
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 12.10.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Age Factors; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive load; Data collection; Engineering and Technology; Female; Gait; Gait recognition; Hands; Humans; Keyboards; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Parameters; Pedestrians; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Physiological aspects; Physiological research; Posture; Research and Analysis Methods; Short message service; Smart phones; Smartphone; Smartphones; Social Sciences; Text Messaging; Typing; Walking; Walkways; Young Adult; Young adults; South Korea; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240118

Many researches have reported that the use of smartphones has a negative impact on gait variability and speed of pedestrians by dispersion of cognition, but the influence of factors other than cognitive function on gait is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of smartphone use on spatiotemporal gait parameters in healthy young people while walking. 42 healthy young adults were recruited and instructed to walk in four conditions (walking without using a smartphone, typing on a smartphone with both hands, typing on a smartphone with one hand, and texting posture with non-task). All spatiotemporal gait parameters were measured using the GAITRite walkway. Compared to walking without using a smartphone, the subjects walked with a slower cadence and velocity and changed stride length and gait cycle and spent more time in contact with the ground when using a smartphone (p < 0.05). In addition, even if a texting posture was taken without performing a task, a similar change was observed when using a smartphone (p < 0.05). This study found that a cautious gait pattern occurred due to smartphone use, and that a change in gait appeared just by taking a posture without using smartphone.