Can’t put your phone down? A new UW study says it’s not all on you

There are steps you can take to detach from your phone.

For many, looking at the phone eases boredom. But phones can also provide meaningful connections, says Assistant Professor Alexis Hiniker and co-author of the study.

One of the people surveyed used her Kindle app to read the same book as her dad.

“She would fill every spare moment with that,” said Hiniker. “The piece that mattered the most to her was always being in sync with him and being able to talk about different plot points.”

Hiniker says understanding why and how often you check your phone helps you find out which of those interactions are meaningful. That in turn can help you make informed choices about your screen time.

“Maybe you decide, look, I don’t need to fill all of my time with little bits of meaningful phone use… or maybe you decide this is a great way to make super tedious and unpleasant moments a lot more enjoyable.”

Hiniker is presenting those findings in Glasgow, Scotland, at a conference focused on human-computer interaction.

Read the University of Washington release about this research.