Question: How will you make people get off there phones

Katie Pickering answered on 7 Nov 2014:

Hi Swaggershellard

I’m not necessarily wanting people to get off their phones! I am trying to understand the relationship and reliance people have on their phones and look at ways that we can then encourage this use in a healthful way to increase physical activity levels and then move onto other health changes.
The average person unlocks their phone in excess of 150 times per day. This means we know that we look at our phones a lot. If we can find an effective way to raise awareness by sending prompts or reminders then people will definitley get the healthy information and through the use of apps we can provide the guidance of how to put the healthier behaviours into action.
So for example, if a person keeps seeing a reminder about going for a run they are more likely to actually go for a run than if they only saw a message once, or had to rely on their own memory and motivation levels. With the sophisticated ability of apps and smartphones to record data through GPS we can also get instant feedback about how well we did on that run, and how far we went. Research shows that this is a really positive and useful thing to be able to have when we are needing to be a little more active and become healthier.
So I guess I’m saying that smartphones are awesome and I don’t want people to stop using them, just use them in better ways. Hope that answers your question?