How we browse: Measurement and analysis of digital behavior

TL;DR

This study combines self-reports and observational data from 31 participants over 14 days to analyze online browsing patterns, revealing demographic differences, perception biases, and security-related behaviors.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive measurement of browsing behavior using combined data sources, highlighting demographic influences and perception accuracy, with implications for security and user modeling.

Findings

Significant activity differences by age, not race or gender.

Distinct behavior on security concern websites.

Users overestimate online time but perceive their behavior accurately.

Abstract

Accurately analyzing and modeling online browsing behavior play a key role in understanding users and technology interactions. In this work, we design and conduct a user study to collect browsing data from 31 participants continuously for 14 days and self-reported browsing patterns. We combine self-reports and observational data to provide an up-to-date measurement study of online browsing behavior. We use these data to empirically address the following questions: (1) Do structural patterns of browsing differ across demographic groups and types of web use?, (2) Do people have correct perceptions of their behavior online?, and (3) Do people change their browsing behavior if they are aware of being observed? In response to these questions, we find significant differences in level of activity based on user age, but not based on race or gender. We also find that users have significantly different behavior on Security Concerns websites, which may enable new behavioral methods for automatic detection of security concerns online. We find that users significantly overestimate the time they spend online, but have relatively accurate perceptions of how they spend their time online. We find no significant changes in behavior over the course of the study, which may indicate that observation had no effect on behavior, or that users were consciously aware of being observed throughout the study