Head’s up: You use your phone too much

How many hours a day is your head down, hovered over your mobile phone? Several Belgian organisations have put their own heads together to launch the campaign Kop op, or Head Up, to make people aware of how much time they’re spending online.

The campaign website tests you on your mobile device habits and then sticks you into one of five user profiles. You then get tips on how to get your smartphone use under control.

The campaign is based on academic research carried out by universities in Ghent and Antwerp. “We are all in fact pretty aware of how we use our smartphones,” says Dieter Stynen of family organisation Gezinsbond, once of the groups behind the campaign, “and many people know that they use them too much. But when people are actually tested on how often they really use their smartphones, they come away totally shocked.”

To this end, the campaign has also developed an app that tracks your mobile phone use. Visitors can download the app on the Kop op website (in Dutch only).

“Previously, it was the parents who scolded their children. At the breakfast table, for instance, they said: Put your phone away,” says Stynen. “Now we see that it’s sometimes the children who are asking their parents to put their phones down.”