The Challenge:
Smartphone use is near-constant, but understanding how and why we use our phones throughout the day, and how that makes us feel, is harder to capture in real time. Traditional surveys rely on recall and are prone to bias. Our aim was to explore people’s relationship with their phones in-the-moment.
The Solution:
We used Clickscape® to track participants’ phone habits throughout the day. Participants clicked whenever they:
- Used their phone for communication (1 click) or something else (2 clicks)
- Used their phone because they needed to or out of habit
- Felt good or felt bad after using it
This real-time, in-context approach captured not just what people did, but how they felt doing it.
The Impact:
The data revealed distinct emotional and behavioural patterns throughout the day. Communication-driven use dominated the mornings, while leisure-driven use increased later in the day. Many moments of use were found to be unnecessary or habitual, pointing to a level of digital dependency that traditional surveys often miss.
Overall, people reported feeling good more often than bad when using their phones, but negative feelings spiked during idle periods, often linked to mindless scrolling. Clickscape® enabled a deeper understanding of how and when digital behaviour becomes emotionally charged, providing insights into the nuances of modern phone use.
CASE STUDY
Industry: Technology
Location: UK
Solution: Clickscape®
