Speed as context of app usage in daily life: A data analysis method

Abstract

The study uses speed context composed by temporal and spatial factors to analyze people's app usages in their daily life. Cellphone activities of forty-five students recruited from university campuses were recorded and analyzed. Recorded activities include app usages, monitor switching on/off, and geolocations, all with timestamp. The study categorized more than one thousand apps into seven categories based on Android's official categories. Total counts and duration of app usage were summarized to uncover how college students utilized cellphone as their social or entertainment tools. Furthermore, according to geolocations and timestamp, the study categorized participant's moving statuses into five categories including high speed such as on buses, low speed such as walking, staying at home, at office, at somewhere else. The results show that, compared with high and low speed moving, participants were found to play game apps on stationary statuses significantly. However, most of them often played puzzle games on buses even walking. The users often transfer or commute for specific purposes, and the use of mobile applications would fit to different instrumental purposes, which means the usage mode is not as regular as when they stay still.