A Psychological Model for Predicting the Smartphone Zombie Phenomenon and Intervention

Tomohiro Sakai, Yuich Kuriki, Wenzhen Xu, Masato Taya, Atsunori Minamikawa

Abstract: Although the smartphone zombie (SZ) has become a social problem, the cognitive processes that underlie it have not been sufficiently examined and the effective intervention methods to suppress it have remained unverified. This study tested the validity of our psychological model in terms of predicting the Smartphone zombie incidence rate and effectively intervening to curtail it. We first developed the interventional materials and initially tested their effectiveness through a questionnaire survey. We then conducted a field experiment in which a smartphone app collected phone usage logs of 194 Japanese participants who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was presented with the interventional materials once a week during a one-month period, while the control group did not see any interventional materials. Our experimental results showed that our psychological model can predict the Smartphone zombie incidence rate that we proved positively correlated with the cognitive processes of SZ, specifically, in terms of smartphone addiction and habit, as well as behavioral intention and willingness. Moreover, we found the interventional materials had the possibility of reducing SZ’s behavioral willingness.