Oregon University Conducts Research on Effects of Smartphone on Mental Wellbeing

If we observe the last decade or so, we can certainly make a correlation between smartphone proliferation and growing mental health issues. In this regard, the University of Oregon is carrying out research regarding the impact of smartphones on mental health. The varsity is making use of Google’s Health Studies app to conduct the research.

The study’s purpose is to investigate how people use their phones in real life and how that affects their happiness. According to a statement on the corporate blog, the research’s goal is to help companies build better products and potentially affect future policy and education.

Researchers are using the app because it can help them get a better picture of how people actually use their phones, as opposed to other studies in which participants are asked to track and report their own app usage. Researchers expect that by using an app-based method, they may be able to discover links that previous research has missed, such as how screen time affects sleep.

Oregon University Conducts Research on Effects of Smartphones on Mental Wellbeing

They also expect that by minimizing the amount of work required for participants, they would be able to attract a broader audience. This could help them obtain data from underserved and younger populations, in addition to increasing the sample size.

The researchers say they’ll employ “passive and continuous sensor technology” to obtain “direct, objective measures of how users use their phones.” Your phone will also be able to “directly measure many of the well-established building blocks of wellbeing, such as sleep and physical exercise,” according to the developers.

You can also select to share data from your Fitbit if you have one. The system employs “parts of the same APIs as” Android’s built-in Digital Wellbeing system, which tracks how you use your phone, according to Google spokesman Iz Conroy, but “data is collected separately under transparent research methods.” Conroy cited the number of times you unlock your phone and the types of apps you use as examples of the type of information the study will gather.

According to the blog post,

Users will have to give informed consent to participate and that the data will be managed according to strict ethical standards and will only be used for research and to inform better products. It explicitly says that the data will never be sold or used for advertising.

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