UBC study finds age differences in smartphone usage

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – How you lock your smartphone may reveal your age, says a new UBC study that compares technology use differences between generations.

Researcher Konstantin Beznosov say younger people use their fingerprint, likely because it’s quicker.

“Even a small difference between the unlocking time, how long it takes to unlock with a PIN versus fingerprint makes a difference,” says Beznosov.

The study tracked technology usage differences from 134 volunteers between the ages of 19 and 63.

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It found that as we get older, there is a 25 per cent decrease in overall phone use.

“The drop is significant,” says Beznosov. “We believe it’s related to the differences in the generations.”

There were a few gender differences revealed as well in the study. With age, men tend to rely more on auto locks, while women will manually lock their phone.

Younger women also use their phone more often, but this starts to shift as people get older. Men in their 50s are shown to have greater phone use than women of the same age.

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