JAKARTA - The University of Oregon is conducting research on the effects of cell phones on mental health. This research uses the Google's Health Studies application. The aim of the study was to look at how people actually use their cell phones and how it affects their well-being.
A post on the campus blog written by one of the lead researchers on the project said the research's goal would ultimately be to help companies design better products and even shape future policies and education.
According to the blog post, researchers used the app because it could help them get a better picture of how people actually use their phones, in contrast to other studies where people were asked to track and report their own app usage. This is a method that may be less accurate than researchers might prefer.
The researchers hope this app-based approach will allow them to find links other studies have missed, such as how the amount of time you spend looking at screens actually affects your sleep.
They also hope that reducing the amount of work participants have to do will make them attract a larger group of people. In addition to obtaining a larger sample size, this can help them obtain data from younger and underserved populations.
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The researchers said they would collect "direct and objective measures of how people use their phones" with "passive and continuous sensing technology."
They also say that your phone will be able to “directly measure many things that build well-being, such as sleep and physical activity.” If you have a Fitbit, you can also choose to share some data from it.
According to Google spokesperson Iz Conroy, the system uses "some of the same APIs as" Android's built-in Digital Wellbeing system that tracks how you use your phone, but "data is collected separately under a transparent research protocol."
Conroy used research on the number of times you unlocked your phone and the categories of apps you used as examples of the type of data this research will collect.
The post said users must provide "informed consent" to participate and that data "will be managed according to strict ethical standards and will only be used for research and to better inform products." It explicitly says that the data "will never be sold or used for advertising."
The Health Studies application was introduced in December 2020 with the study of respiratory diseases. People can use the app to register as participants in a study, where it will collect their data and compile it so that researchers can see demographic trends but not individuals' personal info.
If you are interested in contributing to a digital wellbeing study, you can download the app from the Play Store and register to participate in the study when it launches on Friday, May 27. The study will track your phone use and health patterns for four weeks.
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