@Article{info:doi/10.2196/12171,
author="Pan, Yuan-Chien
and Lin, Hsiao-Han
and Chiu, Yu-Chuan
and Lin, Sheng-Hsuan
and Lin, Yu-Hsuan",
title="Temporal Stability of Smartphone Use Data: Determining Fundamental Time Unit and Independent Cycle",
journal="JMIR Mhealth Uhealth",
year="2019",
month="Mar",
day="26",
volume="7",
number="3",
pages="e12171",
keywords="temporal stability; smartphone use; smartphone addiction; smartphone; mobile phone",
abstract="Background: Assessing human behaviors via smartphone for monitoring the pattern of daily behaviors has become a crucial issue in this century. Thus, a more accurate and structured methodology is needed for smartphone use research. Objective: The study aimed to investigate the duration of data collection needed to establish a reliable pattern of use, how long a smartphone use cycle could perpetuate by assessing maximum time intervals between 2 smartphone periods, and to validate smartphone use and use/nonuse reciprocity parameters. Methods: Using the Know Addiction database, we selected 33 participants and passively recorded their smartphone usage patterns for at least 8 weeks. We generated 4 parameters on the basis of smartphone use episodes, including total use frequency, total use duration, proactive use frequency, and proactive use duration. A total of 3 additional parameters (root mean square of successive differences, Control Index, and Similarity Index) were calculated to reflect impaired control and compulsive use. Results: Our findings included (1) proactive use duration correlated with subjective smartphone addiction scores, (2) a 2-week period of data collection is required to infer a 2-month period of smartphone use, and (3) smartphone use cycles with a time gap of 4 weeks between them are highly likely independent cycles. Conclusions: This study validated temporal stability for smartphone use patterns recorded by a mobile app. The results may provide researchers an opportunity to investigate human behaviors with more structured methods. ",
issn="2291-5222",
doi="10.2196/12171",
url="http://mhealth.jmir.org/2019/3/e12171/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/12171",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30912751"
}