Now the mobile phone goes emotional

Oct. 25, 2012 — ForcePhone is a mobile synchronous haptic communication system. During phone calls, users can squeeze the side of the device and the pressure level is mapped to vibrations on the recipient's device. Computer scientists from University of Helsinki indicate that an additional haptic channel of communication can be integrated into mobile phone calls using a pressure to vibrotactile mapping with local and remote feedback. The pressure/vibrotactile messages supported by ForcePhone are called pressages.

Mobile devices include an increasing number of input and output techniques that are currently not used for communication. Recent research results by Dr Eve Hoggan from HIIT / University of Helsinki, Finland, however, indicate that a synchronous haptic communication system has value as a communication channel in real-world settings with users that express greetings, presence and emotions through presages.

-Pressure and tactile techniques have been explored in tangible interfaces for remote communication on dedicated devices but until now, these techniques have not been implemented on mobile devices or been used during live phone calls, says Eve Hoggan.

Using a lab based study and a small field study, Doctor Hoggan and her co-workers show that haptic interpersonal communication can be integrated into a standard mobile device. The new non-verbal design was also appreciated.

-When asked about the non-verbal cues that could be represented by pressages, the participants in our study highlighted three different approaches: to emphasize speech, express affection and presence, and to playfully surprise each other, she says.

When asked about the specific ways in which they adapted their communication style to accommodate the tactile modality, all of the participants stated that they tended to pause briefly after sending a pressage to 'make space for it in the conversation'.

According to the longitudinal study results the participants' phone calls lasted on average 4 minutes and 43 seconds with an average of 15.56 pressages sent during each call. All phone calls involved the use of pressages.

The prototype developed in this research, ForcePhone, is an augmented, commercially available mobile device with pressure input and vibrotactile output. ForcePhone was built at the Helsinki Institute of Information Technology and Nokia Research Center, Finland.

The research paper Pressages: Augmenting Phone Calls with Non-Verbal Messages by Eve Hoggan, Craig Stewart, Laura Haverinen, Giulio Jacucci and Vuokko Lantz was presented at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology UIST'12 in Boston, MA, USA, October, 2012.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Helsinki, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Cell phone addiction similar to compulsive buying and credit card misuse, experts say

Nov. 28, 2012 — Cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to a Baylor University study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.

"Cell phones are a part of our consumer culture," said study author James Roberts, Ph.D., professor of marketing and the Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. "They are not just a consumer tool, but are used as a status symbol. They're also eroding our personal relationships."

Roberts' study, co-authored with Stephen Pirog III, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the department of marketing at Seton Hall University, found that materialism and impulsiveness drive cell phone addiction. Cell phones are used as part of the conspicuous consumption ritual and also act as a pacifier for the impulsive tendencies of the user, according to Roberts. Impulsiveness, he noted, plays an important role in both behavioral and substance addictions.

This study is the first to investigate the role materialism plays in cell phone addiction. According to Roberts, materialism is an important consumer value that impacts many of the decisions we make as consumers. Additionally, cell phone use and over-use have become so common that it is important to have a better understanding of what drives these types of technological addictions.

Previous studies have shown that young adults send an average of 109.5 text messages a day or approximately 3,200 texts each month. They receive an additional 113 text messages and check their cell 60 times in a typical day and on average, college students spend approximately seven hours daily interacting with information and communication technology.

"At first glance, one might have the tendency to dismiss such aberrant cell phone use as merely youthful nonsense -- a passing fad. But an emerging body of literature has given increasing credence to cell phone addiction and similar behavioral addictions," Roberts said.

Data for this study come from self-report surveys of 191 business students at two U.S. universities. Cell phones are used by approximately ninety percent of college students, and said Roberts, "serve more than just a utilitarian purpose." Cell phones are accessible at any time, including during class, and possess an ever-expanding array of functions, which makes their use or over-use increasingly likely. A majority of young people claim that losing their cell phone would be disastrous to their social lives, he said.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Baylor University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Stephen F. Pirog, James A. Roberts. A preliminary investigation of materialism and impulsiveness as predictors of technological addictions among young adults. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 2012; 1 (-1): 1 DOI: 10.1556/JBA.1.2012.011

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here