Smartphone-based Qualitative Analyses of Social Activities During Family Time

Abstract

With the evolution of nuclear families and diverse career options, families as social groups are spending lesser time together than in the past decades. In this work, we study both quantitative as well as qualitative aspects of time spent with family members through a smartphone-based pervasive study on a sample of 12 families over 14 days. Further, we also examine the perception of 78 millennials on what they feel about, and expect from, the time they spend with their families, however long it may be. We aim to identify the key parameters that shape family life in this day and age, along with examining the participation of individuals of various roles within the family in activities such as conversations, workout sessions, eating together and other social interactions. Among all activities detected to be performed by families reporting high satisfaction with familial life, Eating Together and Using Smartphones Together emerged as the most prominent ones. We discover a greater disparity among the habits of family members, especially millennials, staying away from each other as compared to those staying together.