Google’s App Is Being Used To Research Phones’ Impact On Mental Health

Using the Google Health Studies app, the University of Oregon is undertaking research on the influence of phones on mental health. The study’s purpose is to investigate how people use their phones in real life and how it affects their well-being. The ultimate goal of the research, according to a statement on the corporate blog published by one of the project’s lead researchers, will be to help companies build better goods and even affect politics and education in the future.

Researchers are utilizing the software, according to the blog post, to gain a better image of how users truly use their phones. Unlike other studies in which participants are asked to measure and report their own activity using apps — a strategy that can be less accurate than researchers would like – this study chevaliers Researchers are hoping for an app-based solution. They can discover links that previous research has missed, such as B. how the amount of time you spend gazing at a screen affects your sleep. They also expect that by decreasing participant workload, they would be able to attract a broader audience. That could assist you acquire data from underrepresented and younger populations, in addition to increasing your sample size.

What effect does phone use have on things like sleep and physical activity?

The researchers want to deploy “passive and continuous sensor technology,” according to the researchers.

“Collect direct, objective measures of how individuals use their phones,” says the project. Your phone will also be able to “directly measure many of the well-established building blocks of well-being, such as sleep and physical exercise,” according to the company. You can also share data from your Fitbit if you have one. The system employs “some of the same APIs as” Android’s built-in Digital Wellbeing system, which records how you use your phone, but “data is collected separately under transparent research logs,” according to Google spokesman Iz Conroy. Conroy cited the frequency with which you unlock your phone and the types of apps you use as examples of the type of information the study will gather.

Users must give “informed consent” to participate, and the information will be “managed to stringent ethical standards and used solely for research purposes and to inform better products,” according to the article. It states explicitly that the information “will never be sold or used for advertising.”

In December 2020, the Health Studies app was introduced with a research on respiratory disorders. People can use the app to sign up for studies in which their information is captured and aggregated so that researchers can see trends in demographic data but not personal information. If you want to participate in the Digital Wellbeing Study, you may get the app from the Play Store and sign up to participate when it debuts on Friday, May 27th. For four weeks, the study monitors your phone usage and health habits.