Using touchscreen mobile devices—when, where and how: a one-week field study

Abstract

This cross-sectional study explored the objectively measured Touchscreen Mobile Device (TSMD) use in free-living conditions. Data on TSMD use, gross body posture (lying, sitting, standing, stepping), and location of use (workplace, home, other) were collected over seven consecutive days from 54 adults (mean ± SD, 38 ± 10 years). The average duration of TSMD use was 152 ± 91 min/day, with a TSMD engagement of 51 ± 35 times/day. Participants under 30 years spent significantly more time on their TSMD, averaging 230 ± 108 min/day. By location, 54 ± 17% of use occurred at home and 24 ± 15% at work. The most common posture adopted during any TSMD use was sitting (77 ± 5 2 min/day), with participants also spending considerable time lying down in the home environment (39 ± 49 min/day). These findings provide valuable insights into how adults are using TSMDs, including the postures and locations of use. Further research is needed on the health and wellbeing implications of these usage patterns.

Practitioner summary: This study explored Touchscreen Mobile Device (TSMD) use in free-living conditions among 54 adults (mean ± standard deviation, 38 ± 10 years). Participants under 30 years spent significantly more time on their devices. More than half of the time spent using TSMD occurred at home while sitting and lying down.

Abbreviations: TSMD: touchscreen mobile device; SD: standard deviation; MSD: musculoskeletal disorder; HDR: higher degree by research; SEES: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences; UK: The United Kingdom; USA: United States of America; SAS: statistical analysis system; ANOVA: analysis of variance; SPSS: statistical package for the social sciences; h: hour; min/d: minutes per day; d: day; ICC: intraclass correlation; CI: confidence interval; min: minute; GPS: global positioning systems

Highlights

• Touchscreen mobile device use and gross body posture were quantified objectively.

• The most common postures for touchscreen mobile device use were lying and sitting.

• Touchscreen mobile devices were used around twice as much at home than at work.

• Use at home, with a predominance of the lying posture, needs further investigation.

Keywords:

• Touchscreen mobile device
• posture
• musculoskeletal disorders
• activity
• sitting workplace

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants for their cooperation. We would like to thank Esther Smits for help with participant recruitment and activity monitors processing. We would like to thank the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Sedentary Behaviour Research Group at the School of Public Health, the University of Queensland, for the procurement and provision of activity monitors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Genevieve N Healy is supported by an MRFF Emerging Leadership Fellowship [#1193815]. Elisabeth A.H. Winkler is supported through project funds available through the MRFF Emerging Leadership Fellowship to Healy [#1193815].