The Second-Level Smartphone Divide: A Typology of Smartphone Usage Based on Frequency of Use, Skills, and Types of Activities

TL;DR

This study classifies smartphone users into six types based on usage frequency, skills, and activities, revealing significant sociodemographic differences and consistent patterns across samples and years.

Contribution

It introduces a new typology of smartphone users based on latent class analysis, highlighting usage diversity and sociodemographic correlations.

Findings

Six distinct smartphone user types identified

Usage types vary significantly by age, education, and device

Patterns are consistent across different samples and years

Abstract

This paper examines inequalities in the usage of smartphone technology based on five samples of smartphone owners collected in Germany and Austria between 2016 and 2020. We identify six distinct types of smartphone users by conducting latent class analyses that classify individuals based on their frequency of smartphone use, self-rated smartphone skills, and activities carried out on their smartphone. The results show that the smartphone usage types differ significantly by sociodemographic and smartphone-related characteristics: The types reflecting more frequent and diverse smartphone use are younger, have higher levels of educational attainment, and are more likely to use an iPhone. Overall, the composition of the latent classes and their characteristics are robust across samples and time.