Mobile By James Plafke Jan. 5, 2014 11:01 am
It’s no secret that modern-day lives revolve around electronic devices now more than they ever have. It’s not that we’re retreating from social responsibilities and into our phones, it’s just that our phones — and tablets, computers, and everything else — are becoming much more useful, so we’re using them more. The second screen mentality has become more prevalent over the years, so much so that smartwatches are essentially a second screen for our phones, which are supposed to be the second screens themselves. We know we’re glued to screens, but we don’t necessarily think about the severity of it all. A new study found that over the course of one hour, we switch devices 21 times on average.
British advertising research firm OMD monitored the gaze of 200 individuals over the course of an evening, and found that the average person swaps between devices 21 times . Now, that’s not 21 different devices, but simply a phone, tablet, TV, and computer. The study isn’t looking to prove that we’re slaves to our glowing screens, but rather that we’re comfortable with performing tasks spread across different devices.
Throughout the study period, the firm found that participants had the television on 95% of time — something with which I’m sure we’re all familiar, as leaving the TV on in the background is generally a preferred form of white noise. Obviously, it’s important for advertisers to know what is capturing our gaze, as their traditional 30-second television commercials aren’t really getting the job done if we’re not paying attention because we’re busy interacting with our phones.
The result of this kind of study could go either in favor of or against consumers. If advertisers learn that we look down at our phones during their long commercials, those commercials may become shorter — and thus cheaper — for advertisers to run. However, it’s not difficult to envision an entertainment dystopia where commercials follow our gaze from our televisions to our phones, or employ some kind of eye-tracking device and pause when we look away only to resume once we look back.
Whatever the case may be, the study does confirm that our leisure time has changed considerably over the years, and it’s not that we’re now more distracted by a wider variety of devices, but we’re becoming better at navigating the little pockets of boredom in our lives.
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British advertising research firm OMD monitored the gaze of 200 individuals over the course of an evening, and found that the average person swaps between devices 21 times . Now, that’s not 21 different devices, but simply a phone, tablet, TV, and computer. The study isn’t looking to prove that we’re slaves to our glowing screens, but rather that we’re comfortable with performing tasks spread across different devices.
Throughout the study period, the firm found that participants had the television on 95% of time — something with which I’m sure we’re all familiar, as leaving the TV on in the background is generally a preferred form of white noise. Obviously, it’s important for advertisers to know what is capturing our gaze, as their traditional 30-second television commercials aren’t really getting the job done if we’re not paying attention because we’re busy interacting with our phones.
The result of this kind of study could go either in favor of or against consumers. If advertisers learn that we look down at our phones during their long commercials, those commercials may become shorter — and thus cheaper — for advertisers to run. However, it’s not difficult to envision an entertainment dystopia where commercials follow our gaze from our televisions to our phones, or employ some kind of eye-tracking device and pause when we look away only to resume once we look back.
Whatever the case may be, the study does confirm that our leisure time has changed considerably over the years, and it’s not that we’re now more distracted by a wider variety of devices, but we’re becoming better at navigating the little pockets of boredom in our lives.
More...
