Willingness of Distracted Smartphone Users on the Move to be Interrupted in Potentially Dangerous Situations

Abstract

The use of smart devices has become an integrated part of our everyday life. Communication is now possible any place and any time. The distraction caused by these devices, however, can lead to potentially dangerous situations. To mitigate these situations, various researchers have proposed and developed solutions to analyze the environment and to alert the user if a situation is evaluated dangerous. While seeking technical solutions, the concerns of the users are usually not addressed. With our study we put the needs of the user into focus and investigated the acceptance and other issues of such applications. We found that environment awareness for users receiving warnings can be significantly improved compared to those who do not . We also found that 56% of the participants who tested a safety application and received warnings would use it, while only 46% would use it a-priori without testing it. We can also confirm that females are more willing to use a safety application than men.