My Cellphone Addiction
Web Design: Jamie Haberman
Full Stack Web Development: Jamie Haberman
PHP, SQL, JS, HTML, CSS, Sketch
This project began by recording my app usage on my phone each day for three months. This project provides a visual interface to my data that allows users to navigate it and interact with it in a new way. This project allowed me to explore data collection, data analytics and data visualization as well as front end and back end web development.
Interactive Demo Walkthrough
Phase 1. Collecting the Data
Using the app Moment, I was able to track the apps I used each day, how long I used each one and how much I was on my phone in total.
Phases 2. Setting Up the Database
The app allowed me to export a JSON file, which I was then able to reformat and import into phpMyAdmin to store.
Phases 4. Visualize
Once my data was all setup, I could start coding and visualizing!
I wanted the finished result to be interactive and intuitive so I built out a basic and straight-forward user interface consisting mostly of large buttons.
I wanted the user to easily be able to distinguish what types of apps they are looking at, so created a color coding system based off of app groups and stayed within a color gradient for each group.
The grey boxes on the x-axis indicate when it was the weekend so we can try to identify a pattern of use during weekdays vs. weekends.
Phases 5. Findings
The first trend I noticed is that my app usage dies down at the end. I believe that tracking my app usage really helped me control how much I was using my phone as knowing I was being tracked was a constant reminder to ease off my phone and focus on reality. I felt a sense of embarrassment and shame at the beginning when I would see days where I'd spend hours of my day on my phone.
It's interesting to see how every graph follows a parabola trend, where they peaked in February. This must have to do with the fact that in Jan & Feb I was constantly looking for internships, so found myself on my phone way more often to check my email. Once you check one app, you get lead down the rabbit hole, feeling like you need to check them all, which is why we see a wide range of apps on each day.