Smartphone Interactions and Its Relationship With the Psychology of Time

Research has shown that smartphone usage can affect cognitive functions such as attention and memory. Previous literature has proposed that technology has formed its own concept of time where by natural temporal constraints don't exist, affecting the way we think about time and the value of our time. The current study aims to investigate the effect that mobile phone use has on the perceived duration of time, time structure and the perceived structured use of time, amongst a sample of 44 Irish students. The study uses a within-group correlational design, first investigating participants smartphone usage and their ability to accurately estimate time intervals. Secondly, we aim to investigate if smartphone usage is related to Time Structure scores on the TSQ and participants perceived Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire scores. Finally, investigating if mobile phone use recorded by an App and participants perception of mobile phone use recorded by self-report measure differ and if the degree of difference is related to an increase in phone use as well as time estimation abilities and scores on the Time Structure Questionnaire. We hypothesized that: students do not have an accurate perception of their smartphone use, that smart phone use is associated with a distorted perception of time and this may have an effect on the valued structured use of our time. Results showed no significant relationship between smartphone use as reported by students or as recorded objectively on an App and time estimation abilities. Similarly, no relationship was found between mobile phone involvement and time estimation trials. A positive significant relationship found was between Time Structure Questionnaire scores and app-reported phone use, however, a negative relationship was found between the frequency of phone use, such as the length of duration between each pick up and TSQ scores