The phone walkers: a study of human dependence on inactive mobile devices

Abstract

The development of mobile phones has largely increased human interactions. Whilst the use of these devices for communication has received significant attention, there has been little analysis of more passive interactions. Through census data on casual social groups, this work suggests a clear pattern of mobile phones being carried in people's hands, without the person using it (that is, not looking at it). Moreover, this study suggests that when individuals join members of the opposite sex there is a clear tendency to stop holding mobile phones whilst walking. Although it is not clear why people hold their phones whilst walking in such large proportions (38% of solitary women, and 31% of solitary men), we highlight several possible explanation for holding the device, including the need to advertise status and affluence, to maintain immediate connection with friends and family, and to mitigate feelings related to anxiety and security.

Factors Influencing the Smartphone Usage Behavior of Pedestrians: Observational Study on “Spanish Smombies”

“…An observational study in Paris in 2018 on the concept of “phone walkers” [ 20 ] surprisingly found that there were more female than male “phone walkers” (33.3% females, 19.7% males; N=3038). The statistical data of Schaposnik and Unwin [ 20 ], which are higher than those observed in our study, may be due to the mean age of the observed pedestrians who were younger since their estimated mean age was 35 years and they did not even consider people older than 65 years. Besides, their observational sessions were performed both on working days as well as weekends.…”

“…A different categorization may yield different results. Although previous studies by other researchers used a variety of different categorizations [ 13 , 35 - 41 ], this categorization was based on recent studies by Ropaka et al [ 19 ] and Schaposnik and Unwin [ 20 ]. Our study adopted Ropaka’s categories (not visible, talking, headphones, and smombie) and we added an extra category from the study of Schaposnik and Unwin (ie, holding or “phone walker”).…”

“…These 5 categories were selected according to that reported in recent studies [ 19 , 20 ] and by considering 2 main factors: first, they were easily distinguishable by the observers and second, they represented different attitudes toward smartphone usage while walking. The ordering below reflects, what we considered, an increasing risk of behavioral addiction or attention loss:…”

“…Distraction, therefore, has the potential to exacerbate the risk of a collision for pedestrians [ 8 ]. In a study [ 9 ] that aimed to explore the effect of gender on the use of smartphones while walking, a modest gender bias was observed, with walking behavior with the smartphone more frequent among women than men. Another effect observed was that when couples of the opposite sex walked together, the use of the smartphone was decreased.…”

“…The term “smombie” (smartphone-zombie) [ 10 , 11 ] or “phone walker” [ 9 ] has been coined as a result of increasingly frequent behavior involving the use of smartphones while walking on public roads [ 9 ]. This concept refers to the pedestrian who uses a smartphone while walking, with the physical or cognitive consequences that this type of behavior may have.…”