Zahra Alkhayat, Rida Waseem and Fatima Naeem

Sex Differences in Estimated vs. Actual Smartphone Uses

Authors: Zahra Alkhayat (psychology), Rida Waseem (neuroscience), Fatima Naeem (psychology)

Faculty mentor: Lara Jones

Abstract

We investigated the accuracy of estimated smartphone uses denoted by iPhone categories and whether predicted sex differences would be found in both the estimated and actual social and entertainment use categories. Undergraduate iPhone users (N = 189; 111 women) estimated the percentage of smartphone use across categories and indicated their actual time per week on each category. Across both sexes, the extent of social smartphone use was underestimated, whereas the extent of entertainment use was overestimated. Consistent with Van Deursen et al. (2015), we found a higher percentage of social use for women, but a higher percentage of entertainment use for men. However, these sex differences were reliable only for the actual and not for the estimated percentages. Hence, results show that estimated reports of smartphone use are unreliable for detecting sex differences and may also be unreliable for detecting other behaviors or differences related to smartphone use.

Poster pitch

Poster

Rate this presentation